Event 1: Meet Mrs. Smith

Mrs. Smith's Background

Mrs. Smith says she's been gaining weight steadily since she had her kids about thirty years ago. She says she knows she's overweight and should exercise. She says she always hated doing exercising and never got into the routine. So now it's difficult to lose weight.

Mrs. Smith says she sleeps okay. Her husband's been telling her she snores so she just did a sleep study about a month ago. They told her she had sleep apnea and gave her CPAP equipment to use. She doesn't like it so she only use it if her husband insists.

Current Pain Medications

Mrs. Smith tells the clinical nurse, Carol, more about her current pain medications and whether she's open to an epidural while in the pre-operative area.

Test Your Knowledge

What else could Carol (the clinical nurse in the preoperative holding area) have done?

Correct
Incorrect. A health professional should never casually dismiss a patients concerns, patient concerns need to be treated with respect.
Correct
Incorrect. Pain management is everyone’s responsibility and it begins at the pre-operative stage, sending Mrs. Smith into surgery will lead to a missed opportunity for optimizing her pain management.
Correct
Correct
Incorrect A health professional should never casually dismiss a patients concerns, patient concerns need to be treated with respect. There is some evidence of a link between epidurals and headaches although the headaches are treatable with an epidural blood patch.

Team Discusses the Case of Mrs. Smith

The team discusses analgesia options for Mrs. Smith.

Test Your Knowledge

Question 1

What health problem(s) place  Mrs. Smith at increased risk for serious adverse events from systemic opioid therapy?

Correct
Correct
Incorrect
Incorrect

Question 2

What additional risk for post-thoracotomy pain syndrome is evident?

Correct
Incorrect
Incorrect
Incorrect

Planning for Postoperative Analgesia Prior to Surgery

Next: Mrs. Smith's Surgery 

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