2024/11/12 by Yakubu, Y. S., Yakubu, H., Ali, Y. Y. +3
#Analgesic #multimodal #opioid #pentazocine #postoperative pain
paper · doi:10.60787/nja.vol1no1.2
Background: Moderate to severe pain is common in the intensive care unit (ICU). There are various sources of pain in the ICU ranging from trauma-related pain, acute post-operative pain, ICU procedure-related pains and pain from disease processes. We aim to determine the pattern of analgesic use and the extent of use of potent opioids in our ICU. Methodology: This was a retrospective audit of all ICU admissions during 12 months in a tertiary hospital in Northern Nigeria after an ethical waiver. Data on age, sex, indication for admission (medical/surgical) and types of analgesics were retrieved and analyzed using SPSS version 21. Continuous data were summarized as mean±standard deviations while qualitative data were summarized as proportions. Fisher’s Exact Test (FET) was computed. The level of significance was set at p≤0.05. Results: There were 98 admissions out of whom 94(95.9%) received analgesics. Females that were administered analgesics constituted 42(44.7%) of admitted patients. The mean age was 35.4±18.4years. Most of the admissions were surgical 86(91.5%). Paracetamol, diclofenac, pentazocine and tramadol were used in 20(21.3%), 15(16%), 54(57.4%), and 2(2.1%) patients while pethidine and morphine were administered in 1(1.1%) and 2(2.1%) patients respectively. There was no statistically significant relationship between the types of analgesics used and indication for admission (medical/surgical) p=0.422 (FET). Conclusion: Most of those treated during the period under review were postoperative surgical patients. Pentazocine was the most commonly used analgesic at that time and there was low utilization of potent opioids such as fentanyl and morphine.