Pain Reduction of a Pain Management Regimen in Orthopedic Patients at Lamphun Hospital
Choochat Kantayaporn MD*, Jayanton Patumanond PhD**, Chamaiporn Tawichasri PhD**, Thanin Chattrapiban PhD**
Affiliation : * Department of Orthopedics, Lamphun Hospital, Lamphun, Thailand ** Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Background : VAS pain score is an effective method to evaluate patients. Pain control regimens are varied and
rarely evaluated. The objective of this study is to evaluate the clinical benefit of pain control regimens using
a visual analogue scale during hospital stays.
Material and Method: The retrospectively comparative time-series study was used. A total of 509 adult
orthopaedic patients admitted between September 2006 and February 2007 were included. The average
VAS pain score during the hospital stays and the length of hospital stay for each patient were evaluated.
Exact probability tests, rank sum tests were used to compare the two groups. To adjust for any discrepancies
in prognostic factors between the two groups, a regression analysis was employed.
Results : The VAS average pain score was significantly 33% less in the regimen application group (OR = 0.67,
95% CI = 0.49-0.91, p = 0.015), but length of hospital stays were similar (p = 0.836). After adjusting for the
differences in percentage of operative procedures and anxiety, and simultaneously controlling for gender and
age, the chance of patients who have moderate pain level or worse was reduced by 40% (OR = 0.60, 95% CI
= 0.59-0.61, p < 0.001).
Conclusion : The pain regimen was found to be effective in pain reduction. However, the length of hospital
stays was not reduced by this regimen as it may be affected by many other factors.
Keywords : Pain scale, Pain control, Pain regimen, Pain reduction, Pain management
