Classification of pain and its treatment at an intensive care rehabilitation clinic

MacTavish, P., McPeake, J. , Devine, H., Kinsella, J., Daniel, M. and Quasim, T. (2016) Classification of pain and its treatment at an intensive care rehabilitation clinic. Critical Care, 20(2), p. 147. (doi: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6)

Abstract

Introduction Treatment in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) often necessitates uncomfortable and painful procedures for patients throughout their admission. There is growing evidence to suggest that chronic pain is becoming increasingly recognised as a long term problem for patients following an ICU admission [1]. Intensive Care Syndrome: Promoting Independence and Return to Employment (InS:PIRE) is a five week rehabilitation programme for patients and their caregivers after ICU discharge at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. This study investigated the incidence and location of chronic pain in patients discharged from ICU and classified the analgesics prescribed according to the World Health Organization analgesic Methods The InS:PIRE programme involved individual sessions for patients and their caregivers with a physiotherapist and a pharmacist along with interventions from medical, nursing, psychology and community services. The physiotherapist documented the incidence and pain location during the assessment. The pharmacist recorded all analgesic medications prescribed prior to admission and at their clinic visit. The patient’s analgesic medication was classified according to the WHO pain ladder from zero to three, zero being no pain medication and three being treatment with a strong opioid. Data collected was part of an evaluation of a quality improvement initiative, therefore ethics approval was waived. Results Data was collected from 47 of the 48 patients who attended the rehabilitation clinic (median age was 52 (IQR, 44-57) median ICU LOS was 15 (IQR 9-25), median APACHE II was 23 (IQR 18-27) and 32 of the patients were men (67 %)). Prior to admission to ICU 43 % of patients were taking analgesics and this increased to 81 % at the time of their clinic visit. The number of patients at step two and above on the WHO pain ladder also increased from 34 % to 56 %. Conclusions Of the patients seen at the InS:PIRE clinic two-thirds stated that they had new pain since their ICU admission. Despite the increase in the number and strength of analgesics prescribed, almost a quarter of patients still complained of pain at their clinic visit. These results confirm that pain continues to be a significant problem in this patient group. Raising awareness in primary care of the incidence of chronic pain and improving its management is essential to the recovery process following an ICU admission.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: No
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Quasim, Professor Tara and Kinsella, Professor John and McPeake, Dr Jo
• Authors: MacTavish, P., McPeake, J., Devine, H., Kinsella, J., Daniel, M., and Quasim, T.
• Subjects: R Medicine > R Medicine (General); R Medicine > RT Nursing
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing > Nursing and Health Care
• Journal Name: Critical Care
• Publisher: BioMed Central Ltd.
• ISSN: 1364-8535
• ISSN (Online): 1466-609X
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Critical Care 20(2):147
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License