The Assessment of Postoperative Levels of Pain with Reference to Validated Protocols at a Hospital in Karachi Pakistan

Abstract

Objective: The aim of study is to assess the postoperative levels of pain in accordance with established protocols. Method: The type of study is a hospital wide survey conducted from February 2014 to April 2014, at department of surgery and associated wards, at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi Pakistan. World Health Organization pain scoring system was used as a base to develop a questionnaire to assess the level of pain. The results were correlation with various other variables involved. Results: The study was conducted on 200 patients out of whom 38% (n=76) were males having mean age of 44.16 ± 20 and 62% (n=124) were females having mean age of 36 ±14.5 years. Generally patients experiences mild pain (40%), moderate (39%) severe (16%) and no pain (5%) when recorded after 24 hours postoperatively. While after 48 hours the scores recorded for the same patients were as, mild (56%), moderate to severe (34%) and in the no pain group (10%) of patients were recorded. Conclusion: It is noted that absolute pain free surgeries are not possible at the moment, but with the use of latest advancements in the field of health sciences, post-operative pain can be minimized and should be the one of the prime goals for a good surgical outcome.