Pain after gynecologic surgery

This article provides a descriptive profile of pain in 80 women during the first 2 days after gynecologic surgery in 4 hospitals. Surgical procedures included abdominal hysterectomy, oophorectomy, and laparotomy. Average pain was moderate on both days, but paired t tests indicated that pain increased significantly during ambulation on day 1 (P = .009, sensation; P < .001, distress) and on day 2 (P = .007, sensation; P = .030, distress). They both (P = .001) decreased significantly during rest on day 1, but not on day 2. Analysis of quartiles indicated that one fourth of the sample suffered severe sensation pain at all points on day 1 (60 to 74 mm on a 100-mm visual analogue scale), and moderate to severe sensation on day 2 (40 to 60 mm). The lowest quartile had mild pain on both days (11 to 28 mm on day 1, and 7 to 14 mm on day 2). Some patients (30%) reported that pain interrupted their sleep on the first 2 nights, and difficulty sleeping on the first postoperative night for any reason (65%) was related to greater pain during the next 2 days (r = .25 to .43). Although 41% of the women had previously used relaxation techniques for stress or pain, only 9% used it for pain after surgery. Results suggest that postoperative patients have moderate to severe pain that is incompletely relieved with patient-controlled analgesia. Nurses should encourage patients to press the patient-controlled analgesia button more often, report unrelieved pain, and use nonpharmacologic interventions.