Globally, poor postoperative pain management is linked to high rates of addiction to prescription drugs and opioid misuse. But a new report suggests that managing pain after surgical procedures in Latin America can be especially problematic.
Poor communication between doctors and patients, lack of education, and inappropriate attitudes are identified in the paper as elements associated with issues in Acute Postoperative Pain (APOP) in the region.
The authors stated that there are currently no Latin American countries with national health policies or guidelines for the management of APOP, likely because Latin America currently accounts for just 1 percent of the global consumption of opioids.
“This makes the implementation of effective treatment guidelines difficult in countries without easily accessible opioids,” the authors stated.
The article, published in the Brazilian Journal of Anesthesiology, aimed to highlight the issues associated with postoperative pain management in Latin America and to find ways to improve medical practices.
The investigators gathered several anesthesiologists, surgeons and authorities on pain management who developed recommendations that may be able to allow for the implementation of more useful and effective forms of handling pain after surgery.
The researchers highlighted that approaches to managing pain are different in private and public health care facilities. Overall, public hospital and/or clinics tend to provide less inclusive pain management services than private facilities. Availability is another issue with many Latin American public facilities that provide pain management services.
Yet, improvements in pain management services are needed in… (continue reading)
Author: Livia Areas-Holmblad
Livia Holmblad is an editor at Addiction Now and covers breaking news, features and everything in between. She moved to SoCal after living in NYC for about 10 years, where she worked for VICE and SinoVision as a writer, editor, host, producer, and director. Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. Contact Livia at liviah@addictionnow.com
