ABSTRACT
Pain relief is a crucial element of patient care and should be addressed for every patient junior doctor’s see. Analgesics are numerous and varied. They come in many different formulations, combinations, and with different modes of action. Weak opioid analgesic often used in combination with paracetamol, either as separate tablets taken together or as a combined preparation, for example, co-codamol®. Low doses are most often used in the elderly population. Also consider the addition of a regular laxative whilst the patient is taking codeine phosphate. Buscopan is sometimes used as an adjunct for patients with ‘colicky’ pain thought to be secondary to smooth muscle spasm. Morphine is a potent opiate widely used in hospital practice – it is considered the benchmark against which all other opiates/opioids are compared. Patient controlled analgesic devices are essentially a morphine syringe driver which is under the control of the patient via a button.
