Does take-home analgesia improve postoperative pain after elective day case surgery? A comparison of hospital vs parent-supplied analgesia.

Background: More children are undergoing same-day surgery. While advances have been made in pediatric pain management, there have been few studies addressing pain management in the home (Br J Anaesth, 82, 1999 and 319). We wished to investigate whether issuing parents with take-home analgesia would improve postoperative pain scores and/or parental satisfaction following hospital discharge.