Empowering the patient to control post-operative pain

Research analyses indicate that post-operative pain may be detrimental to recovery. Closs claims that it has been inadequately managed for years. Lander suggests that the problem is not so much in finding new strategies but in health professionals actually disseminating and utilising available knowledge in their daily routines. Though the appropriateness of post operative analgesia is accepted, Ketchin agrees that there can be only a limited effectiveness to any given therapy. Theatre nurses' continuing commitment to pre- and post-operative visiting may indicate that they are in a unique position to apply a non-pharmacological intervention by initiating an 'empowering' response, one that maximises patient independence and minimises dependence, to achieve optimal pain relief.