Postoperative Pain Management Outcomes at a Chinese Hospital: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

Purpose: Postoperative pain is one of the most common postoperative complications, and improper management not only adds to patient suffering but also affects patients' recovery. In this study, we measured patients' postoperative pain to understand the status of patients after surgery and to identify factors influencing postoperative pain.

Design: A descriptive and cross-sectional study METHODS: This survey was conducted at a large tertiary hospital in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. A total of 655 postoperative inpatients were included. The survey was conducted using the Chinese version of the Houston Pain Outcome Instrument. General patient data, pain management-related factors, and the pain management index were used to survey risk factors. We used t-tests and ANOVA for univariate analysis of each pain outcome category to explore the association with the predictor variables. Then, those variables with a significance level of 0.05 on univariate analysis were entered into multivariable regression analysis to identify parsimonious subsets of independent risk factors.

Findings: In this survey, 58.7% of patients experienced moderate to severe pain in the 24-hour postoperative period, and 33.6% of patients had moderate to severe average pain over the 24-hour postoperative period. The postoperative pain impact scores on patient mood, somatic function, patient satisfaction with postoperative pain management, and pain education were 3.5 ± 2.1, 4.3 ± 3.1, 8.9 ± 1.4 and 8.2 ± 1.8, respectively. The pain management index, surgery type, insurance, and pain assessment of nurse were influential factors of postoperative pain intensity. Age, ethnicity, insurance, surgery type, patents' knowledge of pain, and pain assessment of the nurse affected the patients' postoperative physiological function (F = 3.822, R = 0.065, P = .000). In addition, area of residence and physician attitudes affected the outcomes of patient satisfaction with pain management (F = 26.652, R = 0.259, P = .000).

Conclusions: The incidence of moderate to severe pain in post-surgical patients remains high, and postoperative pain affects patients physically and psychologically. Special attention should be given to patients with lower income and literacy levels.