• Wen-Yi Lee, Chia-Hsing Weng, Yu-Ping Hsu, and Pao-Chen Lin.
• Department of Anesthesiology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Yun-Lin Branch, Taiwan, ROC.
• Hu Li Za Zhi. 2015 Jun 1; 62 (3): 72-7.

AbstractHeroin addicts admitted to the hospital for surgery should be treated as high-risk patients because these patients face a significantly higher risk of experiencing severe drug withdrawal symptoms and of pain management complications during hospitalization. The lack of proper pain management often suffered by heroin addicts during hospitalization has been attributed to care providers' insufficient knowledge regarding opioid medications and their addicting effects as well as fears that opioid medications may cause addiction symptoms to reemerge. The objective of this article is to illustrate the pain management process across the entire hospitalization period for heroin-addicted patients undergoing surgical procedures. This process includes management of the heroin-related physical and psychological reactions from surgery, of the mechanism of pain induced specifically from surgery, and of the heroin addiction during the surgical procedure and subsequent clinical management and nursing care. It is hoped that this article assists healthcare providers to better understand the need for the proper pain management and care of heroin-addicted surgical patients over the entire period of hospitalization and thus the enhancement of the overall quality and safety of patient care management procedures.

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