Immediate postoperative pain management in adult patients following orthopaedic surgery at the Kenyatta national hospital

Abstract

Background: Postoperative pain is a major challenge in the care of surgical patients yet pain therapy is a central medical task and a legal duty and optimum pain control is a fundamental right for all patients. Objective: To describe the practice of postoperative pain management in adult orthopaedic patients at the Kenyatta National Hospital, and to assess its adequacy. Design: Cross sectional study. Setting: Adult orthopaedic wards of Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi. Subjects: Ninety-two adult patients who had undergone orthopaedic surgery. Results: Postoperative pain was managed principally with the use of systemic opioids and Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs, separately or in combination. Most patients experienced more pain after surgery than they had expected, and furthermore, patients operated under regional anaesthesia had higher pain scores in the immediate postoperative period. A majority of the patients reported dissatisfaction with the pain management. Conclusion: The immediate postoperative pain management in orthopaedic patients at Kenyatta National Hospital is inadequate and needs to be addressed.