Does the Pain-free hospital certification improve the management of pain following hernioplasty?

Background: Postoperative pain still poses a serious problem for 80% of patients undergoing surgery. We assessed the effects of the implementation of standards of postoperative analgesia, according to the guidelines of the "Pain-free hospital" project, and PROSPECT group recommendations, in the daily practice of a general surgical hospital ward.

Methods: One hundred adult patients, scheduled for elective inguinal or umbilical hernia surgery, were included in the study and allocated to two groups, to receive analgesics on demand (control), or postoperative analgesia according to the introduced programs. The number of additional interventions and patients' satisfaction were chosen as primary end points to assess the clinical value of the introduced standards. Additionally, the type and dose of analgesics, and duration of hospital stay were noted.

Results: One additional intervention (2%) was required in the treated group, and 9 (18%) - in the control group (p=0.023). In the treated group, the patient satisfaction (0 to 10) score was rated 9 by 39 patients (78%) and 10 by 11 patients (22%). The duration of hospitalisation was similar in both groups.

Conclusion: We confirmed the success of introducing the standards of pain treatment into the daily practice of a surgical ward.