Influence of a New "Call-Out Algorithm" for Management of Postoperative Pain and Its Side Effects on Length of Stay in Hospital: A Two-Centre Prospective Randomized Trial.

Background: We recently introduced the efficacy safety score (ESS) a new "call-out algorithm" for management of postoperative pain and side effects. In this study, we report the influence of ESS recorded hourly during the first 8 hours after surgery on the mobility degree, postoperative nonsurgical complications, and length of hospital stay (LOS).

Methods: We randomized 1152 surgical patients into three groups for postoperative observation: (1) ESS group ( = 409), (2) Verbal Numeric Rate Scale (VNRS) for pain group ( = 417), and (3) an ordinary qualitative observation (Control) group ( = 326).