Making sense of patients’ use of analgesics following day case surgery

Abstract

Interventions need to go beyond the provision of pain management information (as in current practice), and overcome some of the erroneous beliefs held by patients. Further research is required to identify ways in which these erroneous beliefs can be overcome.

Parents’ preferences strongly influence their decisions to withhold prescribed opioids when faced with analgesic trade-off dilemmas for children: A prospective observational study

“…Furthermore, intentional non-adherence to chronic medications in adults was mostly explained by their perceptions of the pros and cons of the treatment (Wroe, 2002). Analgesic risk-benefit trade-off preferences have also been shown to effect analgesic decision-making in adult populations with acute and chronic pain (Older et al, 2010;Gregorian et al, 2010;Gan et al, 2004;Katic et al, 2010). Our findings similarly show how parents' trade-off preferences influence analgesic decisions for their children.…”

“…However, concerns about ADEs have been associated with adult patients' decisions to take analgesics (Older et al, 2010) as well as parents' administration of analgesics to their children postoperatively (Forward et al, 1996;Kankkunen et al, 2003;Rony et al, 2010). ADEs, which occur commonly during opioid use (Duedahl and Hansen, 2007;Sutters et al, 2010;Gregorian et al, 2010;Sutters et al, 2012), add complexity to analgesic decisions since they introduce trade-off dilemmas wherein individuals must choose between competing goals of minimizing ADEs versus maximizing pain relief as the pain experience unfolds.…”

The Relationship of Pain and Nausea in Postoperative Patients for 1 Week After Ambulatory Surgery

“…42 Patient education could correct inaccurate beliefs about the use of analgesics and contribute to better pain management. 43 There has been limited research conducted to capture patient experiences at home. 44 This study gives us a glimpse of the pain and nausea trajectories experienced by patients after ambulatory surgery.…”

Reasons for delayed patient discharge following day surgery: a literature review

“…The management of pain following day surgery has been recognised as an issue for many years and is often suboptimal (Watt-Watson et al 2004, Older et al 2009. Despite advances in analgesia, pain levels reported following day surgery remain high (Dewar et al 2003).…”

“…NHS trusts should examine theatre use, especially in respect to afternoon lists. Where patients are scheduled to have surgery that is known to require a minimum of 6 hours recovery time, for example laparoscopic cholecystectomy (Older et al 2009, Graham et al 2012 then they should ideally be included on morning lists to enable them to have sufficient time to recover before going home.…”