Postsurgical Pain Control Linked to Patient Satisfaction with Hospital Experience

According to research presented at the American Academy of Pain Medicine’s 2014 annual meeting, postsurgical pain scores were highly correlated with reports of overall patient satisfaction during hospital stays. The goal of the research was to clarify the relationship between pain control after surgery and the answers provided by patients on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Symptoms (HCAHPS). The HCAHPS is the first national, standardized, publicly reported survey of patients’ perspectives on the care they receive in the hospital and is filled out at the time of discharge. The study highlights the crucial role that pain management plays in the acute post-operative setting, which can not only shape a patient’s perception of pain management, but also the wider perception of their hospitalization. Researchers examined HCAHPS responses from 2,933 surgical patients and found a statistically robust relationship when retrospectively compared to patient pain scores as assessed via the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) visual analog scale. Further analyses of the data showed patients who had surgery related to spine, non-spine orthopedics, and obstetrics and gynecology, showed significantly larger correlations of PACU pain score with HCAHPS responses than did patients who had other types of surgeries. To read more about this study, click here.