Assessment of postoperative pain management in Mekelle Public Hospitals, Ethiopia

Background: Postoperative pain is very common in almost all surgeries. Its inadequate management will result in suffering, increased risk of morbidity and mortality, longer stay in hospital and higher cost. In most developed and developing countries, postoperative pain is not adequately managed. Objective: To assess the prevalence of postoperative pain and its management in Mekelle public hospitals. Methods: Institutional based cross sectional study was conducted from April to June 2017 among post-surgical patients (n =154). Data on the level of postoperative pain, its management, and socio demographic characteristic was collected using verbal rating scale, data abstraction tool and patient interview respectively. A total of 154 patients that underwent surgery were assessed. Result: A total of 154 patients that underwent surgery were assessed; out of whom 152 (98.7 %) had pain of different degrees. Accordingly, mild pain 105 (68.2%), moderate pain 41 (26.6 %), severe pain 6(3.9 %) were reported by the patients. The most frequently used medication to manage postoperative pain was tramadole 65 (42.2 %). The prevalence of moderate to severe postoperative pain in this hospital was found to be 30.5 %. Postoperative pain was insufficiently managed in this hospital. Concussion: Therefore, The finding of this study suggests that post operative pain was not effectively managed. The analgesic choices that were employed to manage post operative pain were also very limited. In addition to this, post operative pain was not assessed using appropriate pain rating scale and was not documented for every patient. Recommendations: Assessment of pain should be performed for every post operative patient using appropriate pain rating scales and should be documented and variety of analgesics should be included in the management of post operative pain depending on the level of pain felt by the patient.