Abstract

COLLADO, F. et al. Organization of an Acute Pain Unit in a Regional Hospital. Rev. Soc. Esp. Dolor [online]. 2008, vol.15, n.1, pp.28-40. ISSN 1134-8046.

We expose our experience on the development and management of and Acute Pain Service (APS), on a regional hospital, that provides an integral care of acute pain, with a low cost model, sustainable by the Public Health Care System. Though, there is a common tendency to identify acute pain with postoperative pain, it's essential to remark that this supposition contains a big mistake: to reduce the scope of the Acute Pain Unit, to the treatment of the pain consecutive to a surgical procedure. At hospital, coexists other acute pain models, with the same or more significance, in qualitative and quantitative terms, than postoperative pain, and so, must receive the specialized care of an Acute Pain Service; good examples are: obstetric pain, vascular ischemic pain, pain at Intensive Care Units (adult and paediatric), Emergency Room's pain and any other acute pain independent of it's origin. Our APS, integrated on the Department of Anaesthesia from "Puerta del Mar" University Hospital, on Cádiz, has been designed with the purpose to offer guidelines and analgesic protocols, in order to achieve a whole coverage for any type of acute pain. This huge medical project, exploits the special privileged characteristics of a reference hospital for more than 1.250.000 persons, but nevertheless, still includes on a single functional unit, all surgical services and has not suffered the segregation of the maternal, paediatric and orthopaedic units, as any other great hospital on our country.

Keywords : Postoperative pain; Acute Pain Service; postsurgical pain; APS; acute pain treatment; APS development.

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