The Importance of Optimizing Acute Pain in the Orthopedic Trauma Patient

Postoperative pain control is a highly studied topic because of its significant effect on costs, hospital course, and, most importantly, patient satisfaction. Opioid use has been the "status quo" of postoperative pain management but prolongs hospital stays and increases complications. Optimizing acute pain management in patients with orthopedic trauma is important and can translate into significant positive physiologic and financial outcomes. Although multiple viable examples of optimizing acute pain management in the literature demonstrate outcome improvements, implementation has not been widespread. Significant outcome success will depend more on system-wide implementation than a specific regimen for postoperative pain control.