The anesthesiologist will make sure that you will not have any pain after the surgery, or that the postoperative pain will be as minimal as possible. You will also actively participate in this and you do not have to suffer the pain. Good pain management is very important, because in addition to the fact that pain is unpleasant and makes you suffer, pain also has other adverse effects: increased blood pressure, accelerated heartbeat, stress hormones are released...

Good pain management allows for good collaboration with your physiotherapist, which shortens and improves your recovery. Likewise, well-treated acute postoperative pain reduces the development of chronic pain.


Various painkillers (analgesics) are used to prevent and relieve pain, acting on different points in the body. It is recommended to combine analgesics with each other, as this reduces side effects and increases their effectiveness. There are several different methods and procedures for relieving pain, depending on the operation and anesthesia. Postoperative pain relief will be provided by an anesthesiologist, who will also write a painkiller regimen on the temperature sheet.

For major surgeries where more severe postoperative pain is expected, the patient receives a continuous intravenous drip using a special electronically controlled pump (patient controlled analgesia-PCA) and can add a specific dose of analgesic to himself/herself if he/she feels pain. Similarly, with PCA, in certain surgeries, the patient can receive an analgesic through a special catheter that the anesthesiologist inserts before the surgery or after the surgery using ultrasound near a specific nerve or nerve plexus. After the surgery, the patient and a nurse assess how severe the pain is. A "pain intensity rating scale" (visual analgesia scale - VAS) from 0 to 10 is used to assess pain, where 0 means no pain, 10 is unbearable pain, and a value of 3 requires the addition of an analgesic.

The perception of pain varies greatly between people. The nurse who constantly monitors the patient in the recovery room and later in the intensive care room will also regularly ask the patient about the pain. The patient must say if he is in pain. Therefore, in addition to the usual painkiller regimen, each patient also has a “rescue dose of analgesic” written on his temperature sheet, which he receives if he rates the pain on the VAS scale more than 3. It is also important that the patient says as soon as he starts to feel pain, as it takes a certain time for the medicine to take effect, and this is the easiest way to prevent the onset of severe pain.