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Pain in Austrian hospitals: evaluation of 1089 in-patients

Schmerzen in österreichischen Krankenhäusern: Evaluation von 1089 stationären Patienten

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Summary

Background

Despite the existence of internationally consistent guidelines for the management of pain, efficient regional anesthesia techniques, safe pain medications, and organizational structures, e.g., acute pain services, various studies have shown that pain is still common among both surgical and non-surgical in-patients.

Objective

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate, on a multi-center basis, the point pain prevalence of surgical and non-surgical in-patients. We further analyzed pain intensities, in-hospital pain triggers, pain-related impairments, pain assessments, patient information about pain, and patient satisfaction with pain therapy. This benchmark information should lead to better implementation of pain management strategies and thus improve health care quality.

Methods

We surveyed all adult in-patients in three general hospitals in Austria (general hospital Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, general hospital Villach, general hospital Wolfsberg) on the index day with two standardized questionnaires for both surgical and non-surgical patients.

Results

Overall, a pain prevalence of 40.0%, with no statistically significant difference between surgical and non-surgical patients, was shown. Higher pain prevalence in female patients, high pain prevalence in the age group 18–30 years, and highest pain prevalence in the age group over 90 years old was found. Overall pain intensity was relatively low, but unacceptable maximum pain within the preceding 24 h was shown. Different in-hospital pain triggers like patient’s care and mobilization were found. Our survey has shown that pain has an impact on personal hygiene, mobilization, mood, sleep, and appetite. However, patients were very satisfied with their pain therapy.

Conclusion

Medical staff and nurses have to be sensitized to the urgent need to improve pain management strategies.

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Funding

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Interdisciplinary Pain Therapy, Oncology and Palliative Care, Clinic Center Klagenfurt, Klinikum Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, Feschnigstr. 11, 9020, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, Austria

    Stefan Neuwersch-Sommeregger MD MSc, Markus Köstenberger MD MBA, Wolfgang Pipam MD, Susanne Demschar, Brigitte Trummer,  Christian Breschan MD &  Rudolf Likar MD MSc

  2. Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria

    Stefan Neuwersch-Sommeregger MD MSc, Markus Köstenberger MD MBA &  Christian Breschan MD

  3. Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria

    Rudolf Likar MD MSc

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  1. Stefan Neuwersch-Sommeregger MD MSc
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  2. Markus Köstenberger MD MBA
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Contributions

S. Neuwersch-Sommeregger: substantial contribution to conception and design, interpretation of data, drafting, final approval of the final version. M. Köstenberger: substantial contribution to conception and design, interpretation of data, drafting, final approval of the final version. W. Pipam: statistical analysis, interpretation of data. S. Demschar: substantial contribution to conception and design. B. Trummer: substantial contribution to conception and design. C. Breschan: revising the article and interpretation of data. R. Likar: substantial contribution to conception and design, interpretation of data, drafting, final approval of the final

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stefan Neuwersch-Sommeregger MD MSc.

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Conflict of interest

S. Neuwersch-Sommeregger, M. Köstenberger, W. Pipam, S. Demschar, B. Trummer, C. Breschan, and R. Likar declare that they have no competing interests.

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Neuwersch-Sommeregger, S., Köstenberger, M., Pipam, W. et al. Pain in Austrian hospitals: evaluation of 1089 in-patients. Wien Med Wochenschr 174, 69–78 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10354-022-00984-5

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