Patient-reported outcomes, postoperative pain and pain relief after day case surgery (POPPY): methodology for a prospective, multicentre observational study.

Background: In the UK, approximately 70% of surgical procedures are undertaken as day-cases. Little information exists about recovery from day-case surgery, yet international data highlights patients are at risk of developing significant longer-term health problems including chronic post-surgical pain and persistent postoperative opioid use. The Patient-reported Outcomes, Postoperative Pain and pain relief after daY case surgery (POPPY) study was a national prospective multicentre observational study, measuring short- and longer-term patient-reported outcomes, postoperative pain and pain relief after day-case surgery.

Surgery and opioids: evidence-based expert consensus guidelines on the perioperative use of opioids in the United Kingdom.

There are significant concerns regarding prescription and misuse of prescription opioids in the perioperative period. The Faculty of Pain Medicine at the Royal College of Anaesthetists have produced this evidence-based expert consensus guideline on surgery and opioids along with the Royal College of Surgery, Royal College of Psychiatry, Royal College of Nursing, and the British Pain Society. This expert consensus practice advisory reproduces the Faculty of Pain Medicine guidance.

Establishing the characteristics for patients with chronic Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: the value of the CRPS-UK Registry.

Objective: The long-term prognosis of patients with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is unknown with no reported prospective studies from the United Kingdom longer than 18 months. The CRPS-UK Network aims to study this by use of a Registry. The aims of this article are, to outline the CRPS-UK Registry, assess the validity of the data and to describe the characteristics of a sample of the UK CRPS population.

PAin SoluTions In the Emergency Setting (PASTIES)--patient controlled analgesia versus routine care in emergency department patients with pain from traumatic injuries: randomised trial.

Objective: To determine whether patient controlled analgesia (PCA) is better than routine care in patients presenting to emergency departments with moderate to severe pain from traumatic injuries.

Design: Pragmatic, multicentre, parallel group, randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Five English hospitals.

PAin SoluTions In the Emergency Setting (PASTIES)--patient controlled analgesia versus routine care in emergency department patients with non-traumatic abdominal pain: randomised trial.

Objective: To determine whether patient controlled analgesia (PCA) is better than routine care in providing effective analgesia for patients presenting to emergency departments with moderate to severe non-traumatic abdominal pain.

Design: Pragmatic, multicentre, parallel group, randomised controlled trial

Setting: Five English hospitals.

Participants: 200 adults (66% (n=130) female), aged 18 to 75 years, who presented to the emergency department requiring intravenous opioid analgesia for the treatment of moderate to severe non-traumatic abdominal pain and were expected to be admitted to hospital for at least 12 hours.

Does transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) alleviate the pain experienced during bone marrow sampling in addition to standard techniques? A randomised, double-blinded, controlled trial.

Aims: Bone marrow aspiration and trephine (BMAT) biopsies remain important tests in haematology. However, the procedures can be moderately to severely painful despite standard methods of pain relief. To test the efficacy of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) in alleviating the pain from BMAT in addition to standard analgesia using a numerical pain rating scale (NRS).

Diagnosis, mechanisms and treatment of complex regional pain syndrome.

Purpose Of Review: The incidence and disease course of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) has been unclear until recently. This was due to inconsistent diagnostic criteria used in previous studies and a lack of large-scale prospective datasets. Multiple mechanisms of CRPS have been suggested, and recent research has begun to explain how inflammation, the immune system and the autonomic nervous system may interact with aberrant central neuroplasticity to produce the clinical picture.

PAin SoluTions In the Emergency Setting (PASTIES); a protocol for two open-label randomised trials of patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) versus routine care in the emergency department.

Introduction: Pain is the commonest reason that patients present to an emergency department (ED), but it is often not treated effectively. Patient controlled analgesia (PCA) is used in other hospital settings but there is little evidence to support its use in emergency patients. We describe two randomised trials aiming to compare PCA to nurse titrated analgesia (routine care) in adult patients who present to the ED requiring intravenous opioid analgesia for the treatment of moderate to severe pain and are subsequently admitted to hospital.