[Recommendations and guidelines for perioperative pain therapy in Germany]

The management of perioperative and post-traumatic pain in clinical practice is still significantly deficient in Germany as shown in a recently published representative and anonymous survey of 1,000 surgical clinics. Several steps were undertaken to improve the situation: in 1992, an agreement on responsibilities and organization was achieved between the "Berufsverbände" of German Surgeons and of Anaesthesiologists. In 1997, recommendations on the treatment of perioperative and post-traumatic pain were published by the two "Berufsverbände" together with the Scientific Societies of Surgeons and Anaesthesiologists. In 1998, national guidelines based on consensus methods in collaboration with the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF) will be published at the Internet address http://www.uni-duesseldorf.de/WWW/AWMF/.