Postoperative Pain Management Guidelines in Lithuanian university of Health Sciences Hospital Kaunas Clinics - do they Function Properly?

Objectives. To determine if anesthesiologists in Kaunas Clinics follow the Postoperative pain management guidelines and to find out patients' postoperative pain intensity. Patients and methods. The research consists of 3 parts. Firstly, a survey was conducted in Kaunas Clinics. It was answered by 65 anesthesiologists. The main goal of the questionnaire was to find out if anesthesiologists were using Postoperative Pain Management Guidelines in their clinical practice. The second part of the trial took place in the Clinics of Obstetrics & gynecology, Orthopedics & trauma and Surgery. The medical records of 100 patients were analyzed there. In the third part of the research 81 of the patients, whose medical records had been analyzed, were interviewed. Results. 42 (64.6 %) respondents answered that they were following Postoperative Pain Management Guidelines in their clinical practice, meanwhile the rest - 23 (35.4 %) anesthesiologists stated that they were not following the guidelines. Patients who underwent surgery have been feeling averagely 5.6 out of 10 pain intensity. 19 (23.5 %) patients felt mild pain, 29 (35.6 %) moderate and 33 (40.7 %) felt severe pain after surgery. Only in 45.0 % of cases doctors followed the Postoperative Pain Management Guidelines. In those cases, when doctors did not follow the Postoperative Pain Manegement Guidelines, patients felt pain more severely (p>0.05). Conclusions. More than a half of anesthesiologists stated that they were using Postoperative Pain Management Guidelines in their clinical practice. However, after medical records had been analyzed, we found out that in clinical practice Postoperative Pain Management Guidelines were followed less frequently. In most of the cases patients felt severe pain after surgery