Control of acute pain in postoperative and post-traumatic situations and the role of the acute pain service

Since the early 1980s the vast majority of hospitals in the UK have developed their own acute pain services (APS) to better manage acute pain. A well-run and locally tailored APS will lead to improved quality of patient care and satisfaction along with a reduced length of stay and complications. Historically the main analgesic interventions are oral medication, intravenous patient-controlled analgesic devices and epidural infusions. Increasingly newer analgesic techniques are being utilized to improve care, including wound catheter infusions, peripheral nerve blocks and subcutaneous infusions of ketamine.