Practice Guidelines for Acute Pain Management in the Perioperative Setting

P RACTICE Guidelines are systematically developed rec- ommendations that assist the practitioner and patient in making decisions about health care.These recommendations may be adopted, modified, or rejected according to clinical needs and constraints and are not intended to replace local institutional policies.In addition, Practice Guidelines developed by the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) are not intended as standards or absolute requirements, and their use cannot guarantee any specific outcome.Practice Guidelines are subject to revision as warranted by the evolution of medical knowledge, technology, and practice.They provide basic recommendations that are supported by a synthesis and analysis of the current literature, expert and practitioner opinion, open forum commentary, and clinical feasibility data.This document updates the "Practice Guidelines for Acute Pain Management in the Perioperative Setting: An Updated Report by the American Society of Anesthesiologists Task Force on Acute Pain Management," adopted by the ASA in 2003 and published in 2004.* Methodology A. Definition of Acute Pain Management in the Perioperative SettingFor these Guidelines, acute pain is defined as pain that is present in a surgical patient after a procedure.Such pain may be the result of trauma from the procedure or procedurerelated complications.Pain management in the perioperative setting refers to actions before, during, and after a procedure Updated by the American