The Effect of Patient-Controlled Oral Analgesia for Acute Abdominal Pain after Discharge

Background: During hospitalization, patients who were admitted with acute abdominal pain must be prepared to care for themselves at home after discharge to continue established treatment, promote recovery, and avoid readmission. Aims: Our aim was to investigate the quality of pain management after discharge, when patient-controlled oral analgesia was compared with standard care for patients admitted to hospital with acute abdominal pain. The primary outcome measures were pain intensity and patient perception of care. The secondary outcome measures were pain interference with activity, affective experiences, side effects, and use of analgesics. Design: A questionnaire study measuring the effect of an intervention on patient-controlled oral analgesics. Settings: An emergency department and a surgical department in Denmark. Participants: Patients admitted to hospital with acute abdominal pain. Methods: A pre- and postintervention study was conducted in an emergency department and a surgical department with three subunits. Data were collected using a Danish modified Revised American Pain Society Patient Outcome Questionnaire with five subscales (scale 0-10) completed in weeks 1 and 4 after discharge. Results: In total, 117 patients were included. The median scores at week 1 and week 4 in the control and intervention groups were, respectively, 2/1 and 1/0 on the pain subscale (p = .11/.16), 3/0 and 3/0 on the activity subscale (p = .19/.80), 1/0 and 0/0 on the emotional subscale (p = .02/.72), 1/0 and 1/0 on the side effect subscale (p = .95/.99), and 8/5 and 7/7 on the patient perception subscale (p = .35/.49). There was no significant difference in the use of analgesics at week 1. Conclusions: Patient-controlled oral analgesia during the hospital stay did not improve the quality of pain management after discharge.