title: One year's experience with an acute pain service in a Spanish University Clinic hospital.
abstract: We describe the experience of the acute pain service of the University Hospital of Galicia, Spain since its inception. We have treated 1214 patients using either patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) with morphine (72%), or patient-controlled epidural analgesia with fentanyl + bupivacaine (22%). Three hundred and five patients had minor complications, mainly pruritus (35%) in patients with patient-controlled epidural analgesia. Three (0.33%) patients using PCA had respiratory depression treated with naloxone; no patient with patient-controlled epidural analgesia had respiratory depression. In our experience the creation of an acute pain service and the associated development of pain-treatment protocols and the training of hospital personnel produced excellent results.
authors.affiliation: Galicia General Hospital, University of Santiago, School of Medicine, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blanco
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Blanco
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alvarez
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015360:Analgesia, Epidural / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016058:Analgesia, Patient-Controlled / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002045:Bupivacaine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D005283:Fentanyl / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007260:Infusion Pumps / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D009020:Morphine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D009270:Naloxone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018710:Pain Clinics / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000517:prevention & control; D011537:Pruritus / Q000139:chemically induced; D012119:Respiration / Q000187:drug effects; D012120:Respiration Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D009270:Naloxone; D009020:Morphine; D005283:Fentanyl; D002045:Bupivacaine