title: Preventive pain management in the postoperative hand surgery patient.
abstract: The purpose of this quasi-experimental clinical study was to investigate differences in postoperative pain management within the hand surgical population. The research question proposed: Is there a difference in the pain experience between postoperative patients who receive an analgesic upon onset of sensation and those who receive an analgesic upon onset of pain? The effectiveness of pain management was compared for two groups of randomly assigned, adult, orthopaedic patients who had undergone elective hand surgery using axillary block anesthesia. The results of this study concluded that more effective pain control was achieved when patients were medicated upon onset of sensation versus onset of pain.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hekmat
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Burke
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Howell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009294:Narcotics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009407:Nerve Block / Q000379:methods*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012677:Sensation
chemical_list: D009294:Narcotics