Post-operative pain control--prescription pattern and patients' experience.

The prescription pattern for post-operative pain and patients' experience with pain relief were studied in 200 adult patients who had anaesthesia and surgery at the University College Hospital, Ibadan. Intermittent intramuscular injection of analgesics were prescribed for 192 patients (96%) while other routes were intravenous injections (2%), intravenous infusion (1%) and intermittent epidural injection (1%). Moderate to severe pain was reported by 46% and 49.5% of the patients immediately after surgery and before subsequent analgesic doses were due respectively. Pain disturbed patients from sleeping, moving in bed and coughing. It also made patients cry (20%), feel depressed (23%), anxious (12.5%) and angry (14.5%). Despite the high incidence of pain and the associated disturbances, 178 patients (89%) still found overall pain relief satisfactory.