Adherence to All Steps of a Pain Management Protocol in Intensive Care Patients after Cardiac Surgery Is Hard to Achieve.

ABSTRACT: Purpose. To investigate adherence to our pain protocol considering analgesics administration, number and timing of pain assessments, and adjustment of analgesics upon unacceptably high (NRS ≥ 4) and low (NRS ≤ 1) pain scores. Material and Methods. The pain protocol for patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) after cardiac surgery consisted of automated prescriptions for paracetamol and morphine, automated reminders for pain assessments, a flowchart to guide interventions upon high and low pain scores, and reassessments after unacceptable pain. Results. Paracetamol and morphine were prescribed in all 124 patients. Morphine infusion was stopped earlier than protocolized in 40 patients (32%). During the median stay of 47 hours [IQR 26 to 74 hours], 702/706 (99%) schedul

SUBMITTER: van Gulik L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5337384 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature