[Practice guidelines for the management of acute pain]

Acute pain is a frequent entity in the hospital setting and the complexity of its management results in the necessity for practice guidelines to assist health care personnel in decision making for treatment of pain. In Mexico, as in other countries, different task forces have provided recommendations in order to achieve this goal. The present report presents the results obtained by a multidisciplinary group who explored the actual state of acute pain in the country using a questionnaire. Meanwhile, they also analyzed the scientific evidence contained in the literature. The results of these efforts are contained in the practice guidelines proposed by this task force.