Pain Management in Surgical Intensive Care Units: A Multi-Center Prospective Observational Study (THAI-SICU Study)

This study is a part of the multi-center Thai university-based Surgical Intensive Care Unit Study (THAI-SICU Study). It aimed to evaluate the patterns of pain management in patients admitted to surgical intensive care units. Case record forms (CRFs) were created by the working group. Data regarding pain management in the ICUs were documented on the daily record form. These included types of analgesics used (opioids and non-opioids), routes of administration (oral, intravenous, intramuscular, epidural and intrathecal) and methods of administration (continuous infusion, regular intermittent, as needed, patient-controlled analgesia and patient-controlled epidural analgesia). Data were gathered from 4,652 patients. The majority of the patients received analgesics (85.2%). The main stay analgesics were morphine (52.3%) and fentanyl (27%). Analgesics were frequently administered via the intravenous route (76.5%) on an as needed basis (48.6%). Analgesics were commonly given to patients in the surgical intensive care units. The analgesics of choice were strong opioids, and the most preferred route and method of administration was the intravenous route and the as needed basis, respectively.