Objective: To analyze the management of postoperative pain after complex ophthalmic surgery and to compare it to the guidelines.
Design: A retrospective study.
Setting: University Hospital Split, Croatia.
Subjects: Patients (N = 447) who underwent complex ophthalmic surgical procedures from 2008 to 2012.
Methods: The following data were extracted from patient medical records: age, gender, type and dosage of premedication, preoperative patient's physical status, type of procedure, duration of procedure-surgical and anesthesia time, type and dosage of anesthesia, the type and dosage of postoperative analgesia for each postoperative day.
Results: None of the patients had information about pain intensity in their records. There were 90% patients who did not receive any medication the night before surgery, 54% did not receive any premedication immediately before surgery, 19% did not receive any pain medication after the surgery in the operating room and 46% of patients did not receive any analgesics after being released to the ophthalmology department. Among those who received analgesia after surgery, 98% received only one dose of an analgesic, and 93% of patients received analgesia only on the day of the surgery. Furthermore, patients were returned to the department immediately after surgery, without intensive monitoring. During the analyzed five years there were no educational session organized by anesthesiologist to the ophthalmic surgeons.
Conclusions: Postoperative pain management and perioperative care of patients undergoing major ophthalmic surgery indicates lack of attention towards pain intensity and postoperative analgesia. Appropriate interventions should be employed to improve postoperative pain management, to facilitate patient recovery.
Keywords: Analgesia; Guidelines; Ophthalmic Surgery; Postoperative Pain.
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