BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Analgesic planning to manage acute postoperative pain is critical for its effective control, because if untreated it brings noxious changes to the body. This study aimed at analyzing the change in analgesics prescription in the postoperative period of general surgeries before and after the presentation of a symposium and the distribution of a pain management manual. METHOD: This was a prospective study with 45 patients aged between 18 and 70 years, submitted to general surgeries, to evaluate the effectiveness of postoperative analgesia via the pain numerical scale, and to analyze analgesics prescription before and after a presentation and the distribution of a postoperative pain management manual for assistant, resident and internship physicians of the Surgical Clinic of a medium-sized teaching hospital. RESULTS: Pain intensity in the control group was 3.64 ± 3.2 in the 1st hour, 4.24 ± 2.9 within 12 hours, 4.84 ± 2.2 within 24 hours and 4.08 ± 2.3 within 48 hours. Pain intensity in the post-study group was 2.85 ± 2.8 in 1 hour, 2.90 ± 2.7 within 12 hours, 2.25 ± 2.6 within 24 hours and 1.95 ± 2.4 within 48 hours. There has been no statistically significant difference among different hours for the same group, however there has been a difference between the 24th hour of the control group as compared to the study group (p < 0.001) and between the 48th hour of the control group as compared to the study group (p < 0.005). CONCLUSION: The proposed intervention has generated mild changes in postoperative analgesics prescription, however enough to provide pain intensity decrease in some studied moments.
Analgesia; Pain evaluation; Surgery
