Abstract
Objective: Pain is an inevitable byproduct of surgery. Successful perioperative pain management is an ethical goal, and health professionals are obligated to limit complications and speed up patient recovery. This study aimed to examine the extent of pain relief and the impact of pain on patients’ quality of life.
Methods: This study included 217 surgical patients who underwent a variety of surgeries. The Brief Pain Inventory-Long Form (BPI-LF) and Medical Short Form-36 (SF-36) were successfully administered to 183 patients at one week and one month after surgery, respectively. The data thus obtained were analysed using SPSS (version 25).
Results: Among the 183 patients surveyed, 80.2% (n=174) were females, and 19.8% (n=43) were males. The mean age was 34.21 years (SD ±10.989). The percentage of pain relief ranged from 50-100%, and the average percentage of pain relief after the one-week interval was 80.05 ± SD 11.266. The Cronbach’s alpha values obtained for the 11 BPI items (pain severity and functional interference) were significant. The pain management index-1 (PMI-1 using ‘pain at its worst’) showed a mean of -0.7814 ± 1.127, indicating pain management inadequacy during the first 48 hrs after surgery. The nature of the surgery may have an impact on the quality of life of the patient.
Conclusion: Pain may be undermanaged in the first 48 hrs after surgery; however, pain management after one week was adequate.