ASA and AAOS: Postoperative Pain Reduction Strategies

Newswise — To help physicians safely and effectively alleviate pain and encourage optimal opioid stewardship in patients following surgery, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) today released the Pain Alleviation Toolkit. The toolkit provides physicians and patients with resources to encourage communication and decision-making to help reduce patients’ postoperative pain as much and as safely as possible.

“ASA is excited to work with the AAOS on safe and effective ways to manage postoperative pain, which can lead to patients’ reduced opioid use and reliance,” said ASA President Mary Dale Peterson, M.D., MSHCA, FACHE, FASA. “There are multiple ways we can manage pain and discomfort, including nerve blocks, over-the-counter medications and non-drug remedies such as physical therapy. Physicians and their patients should work together to determine the most effective and safest course of pain management. Conversations which the resources in this toolkit could help facilitate.”

Resources include:

• Guides to help physicians prepare patients for the pain and discomfort experienced after surgery.
• Tips and strategies on how to implement routine preoperative patient screening tools to identify risk factors that may affect patients’ pain levels.
• Recommendations on the safe use, storage and disposal of opioids to limit diversion of unused opioids.
• Slides and scripts for physicians to help properly navigate conversations regarding patient recovery.
• Patient resources, including a downloadable tool for physicians and patients to document the pain management plan together.

Musculoskeletal diseases affect more than one out of every two persons in the United States age 18 and over. Bone and joint conditions, injuries and surgeries can be painful. As more orthopaedic procedures, including back surgeries and knee replacement, are performed in the United States, minimizing patients’ postoperative pain and discomfort safely and responsibly is an important goal of both orthopaedic care and anesthesiologists, physicians who specialize in pain management.

 

Read the full press release on Newswise.