The efficacy of oral analgesia for postoperative pain

The aims of this study were to assess the efficacy of acute pain management for the postoperative patient, identify analgesic requirements and to ascertain the incidences of side effects, if any. One important observation noted from the study was that there were quite a significant number of patients that were receiving more that one analgesic on a regular basis. The implications of multi-prescription without strict controls could have a profound negative effect on patient health. Although side effects were noted to be higher in the group of patients that received multiple analgesics, no patient suffered any detrimental or long term effects, and in general patients did appear to be satisfied with their analgesic regime.