title: Post-operative pain management: a literature review.
abstract: The appropriateness of any set of criteria generated to measure the quality of a particular intervention is dependent upon a thorough, up-to-date assessment of the current state-of-the-art. Few areas in nursing have received as much research attention as that of pain control, particularly post-operative pain control. The following review of the literature* on this subject complements earlier reviews undertaken by Seers (1988) by organizing the information according to four distinct categories, namely environmental issues, nursing actions, patient outcomes and a review of a number of pain measures. This particular format was selected in order to help in the development of structure, process and outcome criteria on the topic of post-operative pain management. The section on measurement is to inform practitioners about pain-assessment charts and provide ideas about auditing this area.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kitson
mesh_terms: D000698:Analgesia / Q000379:methods*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000451:nursing / Q000628:therapy*