■■Develop standardised preoperative information about pain
management after surgery
■■Remind staff to respond to reports of pain promptly. This
area should then be re-evaluated
■■Remind staff of the benefits of using ‘transitional analgesia’
and promote its use, especially when epidural/PCAs are
discontinued without a pain nurse review
■■Test the hypothesis that ‘patients whose sophisticated
analgesia is discontinued without a pain nurse review has
less satisfactory pain management’
■■ Study patients’ perceptions surrounding staff ‘busyness’ to
see if it affects pain reports and responses to them
■■Examine levels of pain intensity after surgery in more
detail to discover reasons for inadequate analgesia in spite
of medicinal and technological advances through further
research.