Abstract
Surgical procedures play an increasing role among health technologies to treat diseases. Pain often accompanies such diseases, both as a result of their pathology, but also as the side-effect of the intervention itself, and it is not only a burdensome subjective feeling, but adversely affects the recovery process, can induce complications and increases treatment costs. Acute Pain Service Teams are becoming increasingly widespread in hospitals to address post-operative pain, yet we have so far no data on how many hospitals have actually adopted this technology in Hungary. The main objectives of our study were to assess the prevalence of Acute Pain Service Teams, map their structure and operation, as well as to understand the barriers and conducive factors of their establishment in Hungarian hospitals. We carried out a survey among the 72 hospitals with surgical departments. The questionnaire was filled in by 52 providers, which gave us a response rate of 72.2%. Our results show, that only two of the responding hospitals have Acute Pain Service Teams albeit their structure and operation are in line with the literature. In the 50 hospitals without such teams, financing difficulties and human resources shortages are mentioned to be the most important obstacles of their establishment, but the lack of initiative and interest on the part of the specialities concerned are also an important barrier. Lagging behind the more affluent EU member states, but similarly to other Central and Eastern European countries, Acute Pain Service has been hardly adopted by Hungarian hospitals. Hungarian health professionals know the technology and would support its wider introduction, if the technical feasibility barriers could be overcome. Health policy should play a more active role to facilitate change in this area, the investment in which promises a substantial return in terms of health gains and cost savings.
Highlights
There is an extensive literature on the importance of pain and pain management in patient care, which stems from its biological, psychological and economic consequences [1, 2]
That only two of the responding hospitals have Acute Pain Service Teams albeit their structure and operation are in line with the literature
Lagging behind the more affluent EU member states, but to other Central and Eastern European countries, Acute Pain Service has been hardly adopted by Hungarian hospitals
Summary
There is an extensive literature on the importance of pain and pain management in patient care, which stems from its biological, psychological and economic consequences [1, 2]. Uncontrolled pain has adverse impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of patient care, through the hyperactivity of the sympathetic nervous system, stress reaction, changes in the endocrine and nervous system, induced sleep deprivation, anxiety and depression, reduced mobility, increased risk of pneumonia, and myocardial ischemia [1, 4,5,6,7] In addition to these pathologies, uncontrolled postoperative pain increases the costs of patient care through longer hospital stay and the treatment of complications [7]. Surgical procedures play an increasing role among health technologies to treat diseases Pain often accompanies such diseases, both as a result of their pathology, and as the side-effect of the intervention itself, and it is a burdensome subjective feeling, but adversely affects the recovery process, can induce complications and increases treatment costs.
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