Fourteen medical specialty societies held a pain summit Feb. 20 to discuss acute surgical pain and develop guidance around a future pathway on managing it.
The summit virtually united a group of major surgical stakeholders around the goal of developing the principles of a still-in-development pathway. The American Society of Anesthesiologists anticipates releasing the pathway in 2021.
The summit came up with seven guiding principles physicians should follow when providing care:
1. Conduct a preoperative evaluation of medical and psychological conditions.
2. Use a validated pain assessment tool.
3. Offer multimodal analgesia to treat postoperative pain.
4. Provide patient and family-centered education to patients on managing postoperative pain.
5. Educate all patients and primary caregivers on a pain treatment plan.
6. Adjust the pain management plan around pain relief and the presence of adverse events.
7. Consult with a pain specialist for patients who have inadequately controlled pain.
Beverly Philip, MD, ASA president, said: "Every surgeon and anesthesiologist wants to be sure their patients' acute surgical pain is controlled. At the recent summit, we learned from each other what progress has been made toward each principle, what challenges or barriers hamper the successful implementation of the principles and what innovations we should embrace as best practices toward optimal acute pain management."
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