Incidence of Post-Operative Pain and Patient Satisfaction with its Management in University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Pain is the most common complaint of patients who have undergone surgery. Over the years, the research evidence on effective therapies for post-operative pain management have increased greatly. Studies have assessed patient satisfaction with their pain management in Nigeria and other countries. However, these studies focused on pharmacological interventions; while, excluding a major component of pain management, i.e. non-pharmacological pain interventions. This study seeks to determine the incidence of post-operative pain, patient satisfaction with its management and the type of interventions used (whether pharmacological, non-pharmacological or both) in a tertiary health institution in Nigeria.

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Kwara State; 123 surgical patients participated in this study. Majority of the participants (70.7%, n=87/123) were in pain and 90.6% (n=111/123) were on pharmacological interventions. Only 18.7% (n=23/123) used both pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for their pain management. Majority of the participants (82.8%) indicated that they were satisfied with their post-operative pain management. There is still a need for more objective methods of assessing effectiveness of post-operative pain management. Holistic post-operative pain management cannot be achieved without using non-pharmacological interventions for pain. More so, these interventions are relatively cheap and readily available. This low usage implies that there is a need to educate nurses and other health professionals on the various types of non-pharmacological interventions.

Keywords: post-operative pain; patient satisfaction; non-pharmacological pain interventions; pharmacological pain interventions; Nigeria