Since pain and post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV) are the main reasons for failed discharge after day-case surgery, assessing pain and PONV is important. The aim was to describe the perioperative pain and PONV management within selected day-case surgical procedures in France.
The OPERA trial was carried out on given days between December 2013 and December 2014. Each participating centre was required to fill out 3 separate questionnaires aiming at describing (1) protocols about pain and PONV, (2) patients\' characteristics and procedures, (3) analgesic and PONV practice patterns for selected procedures.
Over the two days of investigation in each of the 221 randomly selected healthcare institutions, 7382 patients were included, of whom 2144 patients above 12 years underwent one of 10 selected procedures. Among responding institutions, 40% [33;47] had a dedicated pain management written protocol. Combination of tramadol and paracetamol was the most commonly prescribed (78% [71;83] of centres). Oral morphine was prescribed in 59/199 (30% [23; 37]) centres, for home treatment in 25/59 (42% [30; 56]) centres. However, there was no standardised take-home analgesic and PONV strategies for selected surgical procedures at risk of moderate to severe pain. PONV management guidance after discharge was included in only 12 % of centres.
This survey demonstrates that practice patterns for pain treatment and PONV prophylaxis after ambulatory surgery vary among French centres and are not always in line with national guidelines. Strategies to improve practices and make them more homogeneous are necessary.