• Kariem El-Boghdadly, Nicholas A Levy, William J Fawcett, Roger D Knaggs, Helen Laycock, Emma Baird, Felicia J Cox, Will Eardley, Harriet Kemp, Zoey Malpus, Andrea Partridge, Judith Partridge, Anjna Patel, Cathy Price, Joyce Robinson, Kim Russon, Jackie Walumbe, and Dileep N Lobo.
• Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
• Anaesthesia. 2024 Nov 1; 79 (11): 122012361220-1236.

BackgroundNearly half of adult patients undergoing surgery experience moderate or severe postoperative pain. Inadequate pain management hampers postoperative recovery and function and may be associated with adverse outcomes. This multidisciplinary consensus statement provides principles that might aid postoperative recovery, and which should be applied throughout the entire peri-operative pathway by healthcare professionals, institutions and patients.MethodsWe conducted a directed literature review followed by a four-round modified Delphi process to formulate recommendations for organisations and individuals.ResultsWe make recommendations for the entire peri-operative period, covering pre-admission; admission; intra-operative; post-anaesthetic care unit; ward; intensive care unit; preparation for discharge; and post-discharge phases of care. We also provide generic principles of peri-operative pain management that clinicians should consider throughout the peri-operative pathway, including: assessing pain to facilitate function; use of multimodal analgesia, including regional anaesthesia; non-pharmacological strategies; safe use of opioids; and use of protocols and training for staff in caring for patients with postoperative pain.ConclusionsWe hope that with attention to these principles and their implementation, outcomes for adult patients having surgery might be improved.© 2024 Association of Anaesthetists.

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