The magnitude and associated factors of post-operative pain at Debre Tabor compressive specialized hospital, Debre Tabor Ethiopia, 2018.

Objectives: Post-operative pain is a form of acute pain following surgical intervention. And it is due to skin incision, tissue dissection, manipulation, and traction during the surgical procedure. The magnitude may reach up to 85.5% globally. Age, gender, duration of surgery, and length of skin incision were the common factors for post-operative pain. This study aims to assess the magnitude and associated factors of post-operative pain among surgical patients.

Methods: Institutional-based cross-sectional study design was used. The study was conducted on a total of 159 surgical patients aged 8 years and above. The data were collected using chart review and recording the status of post-operative pain by the result of the Numeric Rating Scale at 1, 6, 12, 24, and 72 h of the post-operative period. Descriptive statistics, bivariate, and multivariable logistic regression were used. An adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval was used to determine the association. A -value of less than 0.05 was used to declare statistical significance.

Results: The majority (58.5%) of the study participants were females. The percentage of moderate to severe post-operative pain (Numeric Rating Scale: 4 and above) was between 37.7% within 1 h and 76.7% at 6 h of post-operative period. On multivariable logistic regression being female gender, preoperative pain and large skin incision were significantly associated with post-operative pain.

Conclusions: Post-operative pain is still high which needs the attention of health professionals working on surgical patients and considering factors associated with post-operative pain.