1 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • A P R I L 2 0 1 6
O
ur April
2003 cover
seems sort
of silly now, given
today's deadly opioid
epidemic. "Are You
Undertreating Post-
op Pain?" the words
POST-OP PAINin golden
caps, a tear rolling
down the anguished
patient's face, sounded the alarm that you might be neglecting your
patients' surgical pain.
"Post-op pain can profoundly hinder outcomes, and the failure to
appropriately assess and treat pain is fast becoming a liability issue,"
our story read.
Back then, the problem was that post-op patients suffered signifi-
cant unrelieved pain. You were encouraged to treat pain as the "fifth
vital sign." You could only describe what followed as excessive
excess. Sales of opioid painkillers quadrupled over the past decade,
leading patients down the pathway to abuse and addiction, where
many would dig their own graves with the scripts you'd written for
them. Many who became addicted to heroin say that they got their
start with the opioids their surgeons sent them home with.
"These efforts unwittingly led to the overuse of opioids, resulting in
increased opioid side effects — nausea, vomiting, constipation and
respiratory depression — and contributing to the opioid crisis," says
Prescription to Addiction?
We've gone from one extreme to the other with managing post-op pain.
Editor's Page
Dan O'Connor
Presorted
Standard
U.S.
Postage
Paid
Mechanicsburg,
PA
Permit
218
What
it
Takes
to
Pass
the
CASC
Exam
P.
30
FASA/SAMBA
ISSUE
• What I Saw at SAGES
• Is Your Staff at Risk for Latex Allergy?
• Getting Docs Excited about Accreditation
P.
??
P. 78
P. ??
P. 66
P. ??
P. 54
Outpatient
S
urgery
Outpatient
S
urgery
www
outpatientsurgery.net
April 2003
Magazine
How
to assess the many indicators of the fifth vital sign. How to assess the many indicators of the fifth vital sign.
Are
You Undertreating
POST-OP PAIN?
Are
You Undertreating
POST-OP PAIN?
Patient
Warming p. 36 • How to ID Your Cataract Patients p. 74
Benchmarking
in Ambulatory Surgery p. 90 • New Safety Column p. 94
r
3:56 PM Page 1
• CHANGING TIMES Thirteen years and very different views on post-op pain separate these Outpatient Surgery covers.
