B330 Evaluating patient-reported experiences of pain on the adult intensive care unit

Abstract

<h3>Background and Aims</h3> Pain is commonly experienced by patients on the adult intensive care unit (AICU). Due to communication barriers, it is often challenging to assess the characteristics and severity of pain during a patient’s AICU admission. To address this, we retrospectively evaluated patient self-reported experiences of pain during their AICU admission. <h3>Methods</h3> Thirty-four patients were included in the survey after discharge from the AICU in December 2019. This included a range of medical, surgical and traumatic presentations. Thirty-two out of 34 patients completed a written questionnaire evaluating their experience of pain during their recent AICU admission. Patients were asked to grade pain on a verbal rating scale from none, mild, moderate and severe. A composite body map was generated, summarising the frequency of pain reports at different anatomical locations (Figure 1). <h3>Results</h3> Of the 32 patients included in the study, 78% did not take regular analgesia prior to their hospital admission. During their AICU admission, 68% reported that their worst pain had been severe, and 55% reported that their pain had been moderate-severe in intensity on an average day. The most frequently cited painful experiences were rolling (30%), catheterisation (13%), and ventilation (13%). Interestingly, patients reported more pain on their right-sided limbs, possibly related to moving and rolling practices. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Our data highlights the prevalence and severity of pain on the AICU with a clear link to commonly performed procedures, especially moving and rolling. This suggests that pre-procedural analgesia may be an effective method for improving pain control on the AICU.