[Palliative care regulation and assisted death]. / Regulación de los cuidados paliativos y muerte asistida.

This article analyzes the Mexican regulation on palliative care and its relationship with the public debate on assisted death or suicide. This paper focuses on the rights that people with incurable diseases have, given the current contents of the General Health Statute and other applicable rules. Its main purpose is to activate the public debate on these matters.

Towards Better Perioperative Pain Management in Mexico: A Study in a Network of Hospitals Using Quality Improvement Methods from PAIN OUT.

OBJECTIVE: This was a pre-post study in a network of hospitals in Mexico-City, Mexico. Participants developed and implemented Quality Improvement (QI) interventions addressing perioperative pain management. METHODS: PAIN OUT, an international QI and research network, provided tools for web-based auditing and feedback of pain management and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in the clinical routine. Ward- and patient-level factors were evaluated with multi-level models. Change in proportion of patients reporting worst pain ≥6/10 between project phases was the primary outcome. RESULTS: Participants created locally adapted resources for teaching and pain management, available to providers in the form of a website and a special issue of a national anesthesia journal. They offered teaching to anesthesiologists, surgeons, including residents, and nurses. Information was offered to patients and families. A total of 2658 patients were audited in 9 hospitals, between July 2016 and December 2018. Participants reported that the project made them aware of the importance of: training in pain management; auditing one's own patients to learn about PROs and that QI requires collaboration between multi-disciplinary teams. Participants reported being unaware that their patients experienced severe pain and lacked information about pain treatment options. Worst pain decreased significantly between the two project phases, as did PROs related to pain interfering with movement, taking a deep breath/coughing or sleep. The opportunity of patients receiving information about their pain treatment options increased from 44% to 77%. CONCLUSIONS: Patients benefited from improved care and pain-related PROs. Clinicians appreciated gaining increased expertise in perioperative pain management and methods of QI.

[Postoperative analgesia in gyneco-obstetrics]. / Analgesia posoperatoria en ginecoobstetricia.

INTRODUCTION: Frequently, postoperative pain lacks of systematic evaluation and follow-up. OBJECTIVES: 1. To determine the proportion of cases without appropriate pain relief in an Obstetrics and Gynecology hospital service. 2. To describe analgesics' use patterns and medication errors detected in a case series. METHODS: Our study was conducted in a private teaching hospital. To fulfill the first objective, an analogue numeric scale and a color scale were applied to 278 patients, in order to evaluate severity of pain. Measurements equal or higher to 30 mm were considered as inappropriate pain control. For the second objective, a retrospective random sample of 42 cases was selected to analyze analgesic use patterns and to detect medication errors. RESULTS: The 278 cases contributed with 3526 pain registries, average 12.7 +/- 5.46 measurements per patient, 348 data were > or = 30 mm, involving 136/278 patients. For the second objective we included patients with an average age 34.1 +/- 11 years-old, diagnoses were: cesareans n = 15, labor n = 4, myomectomy n = 4, hysterectomy n = 15 y 13 with diverse disease conditions, where an average of 2.47 +/- 1.48 analgesics were prescribed, 8 cases with simultaneous NSAIDs use, 24 cases had medication errors as overdose, therapeutic duplicity, transcription omission, none of them with consequences for patients. CONCLUSIONS: 1. Systematic pain evaluation and its scaled management, according to severity, are essential to improve postoperative health care quality. 2. Studies, as the one presented here, are desirable in any postoperative setting.

Servicio de dolor agudo en un hospital privado, experiencias y recomendaciones / Acute pain service in a private hospital, experiences and recommendations

Resumen: Las bases de la medicina quirúrgica se deben establecer en el marco del cuidado perioperatorio donde el anestesiólogo es pieza fundamental para la toma de decisiones desde el ingreso hasta el alta y rehabilitación; por eso, el manejo del dolor agudo debe entenderse por todos nosotros como una extensión del cuidado que brindamos. Este artículo describe el esfuerzo por crear un Servicio de Dolor Agudo (SDA) en un hospital privado, donde los recursos se ven más limitados en cuestión de recursos humanos y organización. El modelo de la SDA de un hospital privado es una mezcla de tendencias ya descritas donde el principal actor es el residente de anestesia (bajo costo) y cuyos parámetros de actuación estuvieron basados en la iniciativa PAIN-OUT. Se encontraron áreas de oportunidad y se describió la manera de abordarlas; sin embargo, es innegable que la sensibilización de las autoridades es el paso más difícil e importante para lograr la implementación.

Abstract: Surgical medicine must be established within the framework of perioperative care where the anesthesiologist is a fundamental piece for decision-making from admission to discharge and rehabilitation; so the acute pain management should be taken as an extension of the care of this specialty. This paper describes the effort in developing an acute pain unit in a private hospital, where human resources and organization are constrained. The model of this private acute pain service is a mix of various models written in the literature where the residents of anesthesia are the main actors (low cost), and the standards used are based under the PAIN-OUT initiative. Many areas of opportunity were found along with different solutions, however at the end making authorities sensible about this topic is the hardest step.

Ketamina en el manejo del dolor agudo postoperatorio / Ketamine in acute postoperative pain management

Resumen: La ketamina es un inductor de anestesia disociativa conocida desde hace más de 50 años, y cuyo uso ha sido fluctuante en nuestro país. Más allá de sus propiedades anestésicas, su uso como fármaco para el manejo del dolor agudo, crónico y la depresión, le han conferido un nuevo auge; sin embargo, las dosis y el manejo en pacientes con dolor agudo difiere con las guías y las publicaciones establecidas. Este artículo pretende hacer una revisión de las indicaciones establecidas, las dosis recomendadas, así como el manejo de los efectos adversos dentro del marco de un Servicio de Dolor Agudo con respecto al uso de ketamina en el contexto de dolor agudo (para ver el artículo completo visite http://www.painoutmexico.com).

Abstract: Ketamine is an inductor of dissociative anesthesia used for more than 50 years, its use has been variable through the years in our country. Beyond its anesthetic properties, this drug is also use for acute and chronic pain alongside with refractory depression, making its use trendy again. This paper review the present indications in the acute pain field regarding patient selection, doses, adverse events and the safety precautions under an acute pain service scheme (full version visit http://www.painoutmexico.com).

El ABC de la analgesia controlada por el paciente / The ABCs of patient-controlled analgesia

Resumen La analgesia controlada por el paciente (PCA, por sus siglas en inglés: patient controlled analgesia) es la administración continua y/o intermitente de analgésicos opioides y no opioides a través de un dispositivo con dosis a demanda y control del paciente. Su mecanismo de acción antinociceptivo tiene efecto en la percepción del control del dolor por el propio paciente, en sinergia, con la acción de los medicamentos. Bajo el concepto de concentración mínima efectiva analgésica, las bombas PCA permiten mantener las concentraciones plasmáticas estables de los fármacos, particularmente de los opioides, disminuyendo la carga de atención al personal de enfermería y la administración de medicamentos «por razón necesaria¼. Las bombas de PCA cuentan con un intervalo de seguridad que impide la sobredosificación por intentos repetitivos de activación por el paciente de las dosis en bolos, y se ha demostrado que brindan mejores resultados en la analgesia durante las primeras 24 horas (nivel de evidencia moderada). Las rutas más utilizadas son la vía intravenosa y la vía epidural. En esta revisión se presentan los pasos básicos para el uso de estos dispositivos, preparación y programación de bolos o infusiones analgésicas, así como los pasos seguros que deben considerarse durante su empleo (visite http://www.painoutmexico.com para obtener el artículo completo y videos).

Abstract Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) is the continuous and/or intermittent administration of opioid and non-opioid analgesics through a device with on-demand doses and patient control. Its mechanism anti-nociceptive has an effect on the perception of pain controlled by the patient himself, in synergy, with the action of the medications. Under the concept of minimum effective analgesic concentration, PCA pumps allow the stable plasma concentrations of the drugs, particularly opioids, to be maintained, reducing the nursing staff attention and the administration of drugs «for necessary reason¼. PCA pumps have a safety interval that prevents overdosing due to repetitive attempts by the patient to activate bolus and has been shown to provide better analgesia during the first 24 hours (moderate level of evidence). The most commonly routes are the intravenous and the epidural. In this review we present the basic steps for the use of these devices, preparation and programming of boluses or analgesic infusions, as well as safety steps during their use (visit http://www.painoutmexico.com to see the full article and videos).