Prevention of postoperative pain

It is better to prevent the onset of postoperative pain by prophylactic measures:

• infiltration of wound with local anaesthetic:
  • usually carried out by surgeon at time of operation
  • example of drug used is 0.5% bupivacaine, 2mg/kg in any four hour period
• regional anaesthesia:
  • epidural anaesthesia is most common
  • other examples, include intercostal nerve blocks, brachial plexus and femoral nerve block
• regular administration of a standard dose of intravenous analgesic, e.g. opioids. May be given in boluses or by continuous pump infusion with or without the option for self-administration of boluses by the patient.

More details about these techniques are given in the section on analgesia.