Multimodal Analgesia in the Perioperative Setting

ACUTE POSTOPERATIVE PAIN is experienced by more than 85% of surgical patients.1 Opioids, as extremely effective analgesics, are commonly prescribed to treat postsurgical pain. As a result, surgery has become a risk factor for developing chronic opioid use.2-4 Analysis of opioid-naive surgical patients and opioid-naive nonsurgical patients found that those undergoing surgery had an increased risk of chronic opioid use during the first year after surgery.4 Retrospective studies imply that between 3% and 7% of opioid-naive patients undergoing surgery continue to consume opioids 1  year later.
Source: Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing - Category: Nursing Authors: Tags: Pharmacology Facts Source Type: research