title: The experience of setting up a resident-managed Acute Pain Service: a descriptive study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The benefits of an Acute Pain Service (APS) for pain management have been widely reported, but its diffusion is still limited. There are two APS models: anesthesiologist-based and a nurse-based model. Here we describe the development of a different APS model managed by anesthesia residents, and we report the first year of activity in a tertiary Italian university hospital (Careggi University Hospital, Florence, IT).
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients were included in the APS were those undergoing abdominal and urologic surgery causing moderate or severe postsurgical pain. The service was provided for patients, beginning upon their exit from the operating room, for 4, 12, 24 and 48 h for iv, and up to 72 h for epidural therapy. Vital signs, static/dynamic VAS, presence of nausea/vomiting, sedation level, and Bromage scale in case of epidural catheter, were monitored.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From September 2013 to April 2015, a total of 1054 patients who underwent major surgery were included in the APS: 542 from abdominal surgery and 512 from urological surgery. PCA and epidural analgesia were more adopted in general surgical patients than in urology (48% vs 36% and 15% vs 2%, respectively; P < 0.0001). Patients who underwent to abdominal surgery had a significantly higher self-administration of morphine (30.3 vs 22.7 mg; P = 0.0315). Elastomeric pump was the analgesic of choice in half of the urologic patients compared to a quarter of the general surgical patients (P <  .0001). Among the different surgical techniques, epidural analgesia was used more in open (16.5%) than in videolaparoscopic (1.9%) and robotic technique (1.1%), whereas PCA was predominant in videolaparoscopic (46.5%) and robotic technique (55.5%) than in open technique (31.4%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The creation of APS, managed by anesthesia residents, may represent an alternative between specialist-based and nurse-based models.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Tommaso
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Borracci
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Prencipe
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Masotti
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nella
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Science, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Germana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tuccinardi
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Margiacchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy.|Department of Health Science, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Villa
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Fulvio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pinelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Romagnoli
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy.|Department of Health Science, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Angelo Raffaele
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: De Gaudio
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy. giovanni.zagli@unifi.it.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zagli
mesh_terms: D059787:Acute Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D000368:Aged; D000758:Anesthesia / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018710:Pain Clinics / Q000639:trends; D059408:Pain Management / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*