Postoperative Pain Management in Emergency Surgeries: A One-year Survey on Perception and Satisfaction among Surgical Patients

BACKGROUND: Postoperative pain varies from an individual to individual. It also varies with types and extent of surgery. In general, postoperative pain is inadequately managed in most centers worldwide, especially in developing countries. Therefore, this study presents the perception and satisfaction of postoperative pain management in emergency surgeries. METHODS: A 1-year prospective study of the 891 patients who underwent emergency general surgeries at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, from January to December 2018 is hereby presented. Pain scores and patient's satisfaction toward postoperative pain management were considered at 8 and 24 h postoperatively through a predesigned questionnaire. Numeric Pain Rating Scale was used to determine pain intensity and the level of satisfaction following postoperative pain management. Student's t-test was used to compare the pain scores and patient's level of satisfaction of the postoperative pain management. RESULTS: A total of 891 patients were recruited for this study, with a mean age of 36.4 ± 8.9 years with a male-to-female ratio of 1.3:1. Postoperative pain management satisfaction score for patients (98%) who had pain 8-h postoperative period was 4.8 ± 1.6. Similarly, 96.4% of the patients who had pain 24 h postoperatively scored 2.8 ± 1.7. Majority of the patients 481 (54%) were of the American Society of Anesthesiologist physical Class II. Most of the patients underwent general surgery using the technique of general anesthesia. CONCLUSION: This study indicated that the perception and level of patient's satisfaction regarding postoperative pain management are inadequate. The health professionals and policy makers should be aware that postoperative pain management is suboptimal, as patients still have severe postoperative pain. Therefore, the need for improved postoperative pain management.