El 12 de Octubre creates software to improve the care of patients with severe pain after surgery.

unit of acute postoperative pain in adults of this hospital is notable for implementing quality management systems.

-this tool provides up-to-date clinical data and more customized therapies

– in 2012 Unit attended 1,500 patients unresponsive to conventional analgesic treatment

Spain, March of 2013.- the unit of pain acute postoperative adults of the service of Anesthesiology and resuscitation of the Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre of Madrid has designed a softwarein collaboration with the pharmaceutical group Menarini, which professionals directly involved in the treatment of severe pain after surgery can access the patient information in real time and address your situation in a multidisciplinary way, improving the assistance.

The implementation of this tool in the unit is part of its strategy of management by processes, implemented to improve not only the quality of care that patients receive, but also to promote the efficiency of available resources.

The software will replace the current manual system by a database from which information can be removed and which will analyze the documentation that should be included by other medical specialists. In this way it will provide full and updated clinical data on the situation of the patients.

This new working method will favorably affect the attention, since it allows to carry out a more exhaustive monitoring of the evolution and to establish the most appropriate treatments.

Process in acute pain management

Within this work strategy based on systems of quality management, Dr. Antonio Carrascosa, doctor of Anesthesiology and resuscitation service, has edited the book implementation and management by processes in a unit of postoperative acute pain, which seeks to respond to the questions and problems facing the health workforce to comply with the standards of the hospital acute pain.

The book shows that should suit drives quality management systems ISO 9001:2008 standard, when considering the management of pain as a process that includes measurement and the periodic analysis of their results. Such is the case with the unit who obtained this certificate of quality in the year 2010.

The work provides information on the steps required to achieve accreditation as well as the tools used to improve compliance with the standards and technical specifications.

activity of the UDA data

the unit of pain acute postoperative adults of the Hospital 12 de Octubre works following the premises set out in the European models and American Organization of units of this type. On the one hand, professional nursing hospitalization plant is responsible for pain control and follow the guidelines set in the treatment. On the other hand, the anesthesiologist daily collects information on developments and specific treatment of each patient, in order to assess the effectiveness of the measures taken.

In the year 2012, unit professionals attended approximately 1,500 patients with postoperative pain of intense severity and/or non-controllable with conventional pain-killers, for an average of 72 hours. This unit gives assistance to surgery of the Hospital services, highlighting their performance in knee-replacement surgeries and thoracotomies – surgical incision to open the chest wall-.