Relationship of Opioid Analgesic Protocols to Assessed Pain and Length of Stay in the Pediatric Postanesthesia Unit Following Tonsillectomy

After tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy in children, postoperative pain management is an essential, yet often challenging, task. In addition to discomfort, lack of pain management can lead to delays in oral intake of patients, resulting in extended stays and increased costs. At one North Texas pediatric facility, postoperative coblation tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy pain management orders include the as-needed use of both intravenous fentanyl and intravenous morphine. Both drugs are effective and both have potential side effects that might prolong the recovery period. Nurses in the postanesthesia care unit retrospectively compared a fentanyl and morphine regimen with a morphine-only regimen to determine whether either protocol made a difference in length-of-stay or pain relief. Analysis of available data revealed no statistically significant differences in length of stay between the groups and trivial differences thought to be clinically irrelevant on other variables.