Impact of Postoperative Pain Management Strategies on Patient Satisfaction Following Abdominal Procedures: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study
Keywords:
Postoperative pain, Pain management, Patient satisfaction, Abdominal surgery, Analgesia, Cross-sectional studyAbstract
Background: Postoperative pain remains common after abdominal surgery and may impair recovery. Patient satisfaction reflects pain relief as well as communication, information and involvement in care. Evidence describing these dimensions in Pakistani surgical settings is limited. Objective: To describe postoperative pain-management strategies, pain intensity, communication, participation in treatment decisions and satisfaction among adults following abdominal procedures. Methods: This single-center descriptive cross-sectional study included 120 adults aged 18–50 years recovering from abdominal surgery at Life Hospital, Bahria Town, Lahore. Participants were recruited purposively during a four-month period completed before December 2024. A structured questionnaire recorded demographic and clinical characteristics, the reported primary pain-management strategy, postoperative pain intensity on a visual analogue scale, communication, participation in decisions and overall satisfaction. Data were summarized using frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation; 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for key proportions and the mean pain score. Results: Of 120 participants, 83 (69.2%) were men, 99 (82.5%) underwent elective surgery and 77 (64.2%) reported no previous surgery. Opioids were the most frequently reported primary strategy (73/120, 60.8%), followed by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (30/120, 25.0%), multimodal analgesia (12/120, 10.0%) and non-pharmacological management (5/120, 4.2%). Mean postoperative pain was 5.7 ± 1.9 (95% CI 5.36–6.04). Pain-management options were explained to 104 participants (86.7%; 95% CI 79.4–91.6), 107 (89.2%; 95% CI 82.4–93.6) reported involvement in decisions and 97 (80.8%; 95% CI 72.9–86.9) were satisfied. Marginal totals did not permit patient-level tests of association. Conclusion: Satisfaction and reported communication were high, although the mean pain score indicated a clinically relevant residual pain burden. These descriptive findings support routine pain assessment and patient-centered communication but do not establish comparative effectiveness or causality. Analytical multicenter studies using validated satisfaction measures are warranted. Keywords: postoperative pain, pain management, patient satisfaction, abdominal surgery, analgesia, cross-sectional study
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