[Practice guidelines for the management of acute perioperative pain]

The inadequacy of perioperative management causes a severe adverse outcome, a prolonged time of hospitalization and unnecessary suffering. Therefore, it is important to provide an effective management approach to the patient with perioperative pain. A task force with experience in this field systematically develops practice guidelines and the primary goal is to facilitate, to health care professionals, decision-making regarding pain relief. The well-known concept of "administer as needed" is inaccurate and must be eliminated from hospital's management protocols in order to facilitate the staff education to decrease the painful experience. A method to evaluate and document pain in an objective and periodic way shall be implemented. Also, analgesic therapy shall be individualized and chosen regarding pain intensity in every surgical procedure. The treatment options include the use of non-opiate and opiate drugs, regional analgesia and nonpharmacological techniques. The best analgesic will be the one that shall provide the highest relief of pain with the fewest side effects. In the pediatric and obstetric populations, special considerations for the ambulatory patient must be taken. Finally, these practice guidelines could be the reference for future practice guidelines on pain management in Mexico.