Sammanfattning
The University Centre for Spinal Surgery receives patients with a comprehensive range of spinal
conditions. A unit-specific clinical guideline describes protocols for post-operative pain management.
Only a limited number of patients are prescribed a post-operative pain-management plan, and the
physician-prescribed plans often deviate from the guideline.
To safeguard the quality of pain management, we sought to investigate whether patients experience
a greater degree of pain relief from a pain-management plan based on the unit-specific clinical
guideline as compared with no plan.
The study was quantitative, and included 101 patients. The patients’ pain intensity was assessed
using a Numerical Ranking Scale based on a flowchart for the first 24 hours post-surgery.
The study indicated a tendency for patients to report a higher degree of pain relief under a pain-
management plan based on a unit-specific clinical guideline than where no such plan was assigned.
Equally, it must be noted that the nurses often deviated from the clinical guideline in p.r.n.
medication.