ABSTRACT
Perioperative practitioners are certain to encounter patients in pain during perioperative care. In acute situations the surgical patient is often admitted in pain and post-operative pain is a normal consequence of surgery itself. A considerable number of patients discharged from hospital are in pain. The problem of inadequate pain control may be enhanced further; as there are increasing numbers of patients undergoing day case or short-stay surgery (Dobson 1997). Thus, there is a need for better education of healthcare professionals about pain control. In support of the statement we believe that perioperative practitioners must have a sound knowledge of the neurophysiology associated with pain, since this would be helpful in the understanding of the site of action of analgesic methods and anaesthesia employed during the perioperative period.
