Postoperative Pain Measurement and Documentation in an Outpatient Clinic

Abstract

The literature review purpose aimed at conducting a literature review on postoperative pain measurement and documentation in outpatient clinic settings. The study further aimed at utilizing the literature review in advancing postoperative pain measurements and documentation in a surgical outpatient clinic. The study was guided by the following research questions; what studies have been conducted on postoperative pain measurements, what studies have been conducted on postoperative pain documentation in an outpatient clinic, and what are the outcomes of the studies. The study adopted a descriptive literature review method in answering the research questions chosen due to its capacity in investigating broad research questions. Also, this design-maintained is suitable when the focus of the subject of the work in early scientific development is located. The broad scope of a descriptive literature review allowed for the inclusion of research with different levels of evidence and of not research-based texts The descriptive review was considered a tool to enter decision-makers, practice, or research accurate and transparent means of identifying both practical and policy-relevant questions

The study retrieved 356 potentially eligible articles, 32 met the criteria for inclusion, and 24 provided data for extraction. Each review was evaluated on aggregate providing evidence on the questions. For the eight excluded, the quality of the reviews varied, and the reporting often lacked sufficient methodological detail for quality assessment. The data in the eight studies excluded was not suitable for extraction. The study results revealed that pain scales are significant medical tools applied in assessing postoperative pain after outpatient surgery. The results also revealed that most outpatient healthcare facilities encountered insufficient documentation of patient information concerning pain management. The results also noted that most nurses relied on non-reliable oral reporting, which suffered a higher limitation of forgetfulness, thereby limiting data sharing among clinicians. The study concluded that the healthcare providers, and nurses within outpatient healthcare facilities have a significant role in implementing proper patient documentation among postoperative patients. The study recommends mitigating the nurses' workload by employing adequate nurses to enhance time allocation and proper pain documentation in outpatient clinical healthcare. Nurses should rely on evidence-based practice techniques in collecting patient data rather than non-reliable mechanisms such as oral reporting to eliminate data limitations associated with forgetfulness and limited data sharing.