The aim of the Pain Management Team is to enhance the quality of life for people suffering from both acute (surgical pain), and chronic pain. The Pain Management Team consists of Dr. James Shannon, (Pain Consultant), Patricia Molyneaux (CNS Pain Management), Physiotherapy and the support of a Clinical Pharmacist.
Unrelieved pain after surgery can result in a number of harmful effects on the body. Severe pain can increase stress on the body that is already trying to cope with healing and repair after surgery. Pain can result in muscle spasm, this may cause fatigue or tiredness that may make daily activities such as walking, moving in bed, and washing and dressing difficult to do.
Together with the Anaesthetists we aim to provide the highest standard of postoperative pain management to all patients with acute pain. We conduct daily acute pain rounds, reviewing all postoperative patients. We provide advice, education, and discharge advice regarding pain medication to patients. We also look at the side effects of analgesia (pain relieving medications) and suggest ways of reducing these.
The Pain Management Team carries out continuous audits, in order to identify ways in which we can improve our service, and promote an evidence based approach to postoperative pain management.
A major role of the Pain Management Team is the education of staff at St.John’s Hospital with regard to pain management. We also act as a resource, in which staff can contact us if they require any help or advice. Patient education is also an important aspect of our service, we developed an information leaflet called “Your Pain Relief following surgery”, all patients who are scheduled for surgery will be able to receive a copy of this leaflet. This leaflet aims to explain the importance of postoperative pain management, and to hopefully answer any questions you may be reluctant to ask, that may affect the quality of pain relief after surgery.
The Pain Management Team work in collaboration with all members of staff in the hospital. For some patients who are admitted with chronic pain, they may be referred to the Pain Management Team for advice on analgesia, or a pain intervention procedure.