Assessment of patient satisfaction with postoperative pain management after ambulatory gynaecologic laparoscopy

To determine patient satisfaction with postoperative pain control after ambulatory gynaecologic laparoscopic surgery.

A prospective cohort study in a major tertiary care centre was performed to assess patient satisfaction with postoperative analgesia on the day of surgery and on postoperative days one and two. Data were collected either by telephone or mail-in questionnaire on each postoperative day. Each patient rated her level of satisfaction according to a 5-point scale at the end of each postoperative day as an average for that day. The final outcome was recorded as either satisfied, with all days classified as "very satisfied" or "perfectly satisfied," or unsatisfied, if any single day was rated as "not satisfied at all," "only slightly satisfied," or "somewhat or partly satisfied."

Forty-nine patients completed the questionnaire. Surgical procedures included tubal ligation with cautery (20), ovarian cystectomy (5), oophorectomy (2), diagnostic laparoscopy (14), and Burch procedure (8). Sixty percent of patients (30/49) were classified as satisfied with their level of postoperative analgesia.

Only 60% of patients undergoing gynaecologic laparoscopy as day surgery were satisfied with postoperative pain control. This is suboptimal, particularly in light of the ongoing trend towards more complex procedures being performed as day surgery via minimally invasive techniques.