Field Hospital Analgesia

Abstract

Acute pain is every health care worker's responsibility, a key area of clinical management and one of Surgeon General's four focus points for improving quality of life after battlefield injury. The evolving practice of acute pain management requires an informed multidisciplinary and multimodal therapeutic approach to minimise each individual patient's experience of pain. Whilst subject matter experts progress the policies, protocols and capabilities associated with pain management, it remains the duty of every clinician, nurse, health care support worker and all Professions Allied to medicine (PAMs) to keep updated and maintain capability in this key area of clinical management.

Current Epidural Practice – Results of a Survey of Military Anaesthetists

“…It is only in recent years that epidurals have been carried out on established military deployments [3]. This change has been due to the move from tents to hard accommodation, which is significantly less dusty than a hospital under canvas and therefore allows epidural insertion in a clean environment.…”

Military Anaesthesia in contingencies: what skill sets are required and how will we prepare our trainees?

“…Pain management: An overview is given on the current acute pain guidelines34 35 and is supplemented by a half-day workshop on regional anaesthesia in the deployed environment 36…”

Evolution of the Role 4 UK Military Pain Service

“…Their use at the Role 3 Hospital has been described [4,5]. In Birmingham it was noted that the number of patients returning with regional catheters in situ increased during Operation HERRICK 9B in early 2009.…”

“…The concerns surrounding the use of epidurals in the current conflict are mentioned in a review of field hospital analgesia [4]. It has been standard practice for all catheter tips to be sent for microscopy, culture and sensitivity testing after removal ( Table 3, Study VII).…”