Pain reduction of a pain management regimen in orthopedic patients at Lamphun Hospital.
BACKGROUND
VAS pain score is an effective method to evaluate patients. Pain control regimens are varied and rarely evaluated. The objective of this study is to evaluate the clinical benefit of pain control regimens using a visual analogue scale during hospital stays.


METHODS
The retrospectively comparative time-series study was used. A total of 509 adult orthopaedic patients admitted between September 2006 and February 2007 were included. The average VAS pain score during the hospital stays and the length of hospital stay for each patient were evaluated. Exact probability tests, rank sum tests were used to compare the two groups. To adjust for any discrepancies in prognostic factors between the two groups, a regression analysis was employed.


RESULTS
The VAS average pain score was significantly 33% less in the regimen application group (OR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.49-0.91, p = 0.015), but length of hospital stays were similar (p = 0.836). After adjusting for the differences in percentage of operative procedures and anxiety, and simultaneously controlling for gender and age, the chance of patients who have moderate pain level or worse was reduced by 40% (OR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.59-0.61, p < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The pain regimen was found to be effective in pain reduction. However, the length of hospital stays was not reduced by this regimen as it may be affected by many other factors.
Kantayaporn
Choochat
C
Department of Orthopedics, Lamphun Hospital, Lamphun, Thailand. chootuan@yahoo.com
Patumanond
Jayanton
J
Tawichasri
Chamaiporn
C
Chattrapiban
Thanin
T
D000328:Adult; D000700:Analgesics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001007:Anxiety; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009985:Orthopedics; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods*; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013785:Thailand
D000700:Analgesics