The Acute Pain Service (APS) has been operational at Cambridge Memorial Hospital since 2016. The APS is a team of healthcare professionals who specialize in treating pain. The APS is managed by a Nurse Practicioner specializing in acute pain therapies, and the Cambridge Memorial Hospital Anesthesiology team. Each Patient on the APS is seen twice a day, and adjustments are made to their pain medications as needed. There is always an Anesthesiologist avaialable for consultation, if needed. The APS is available 24 hours/day, 7 days a week, for consultations and referrals.
The Primary goal of the APS is to build a hospital-wide commitment to pain management (an Accreditation Canada Standard). This is achieved by collaborating with all healthcare providers involved with the patient's care, as well as the patients themselves, to create an individualized plan of care for pain management. This plan of care will be supported by up-to-date clinical evidence on relieving pain, will always reflect best practice and will be influenced by the latest research and technology improvements.
The APS provides a wide range of pain relieving options for patients. Our goal is to provide multimodal pain management regiments that effectively reduce a patient's pain to a manageable level. By using a variety of different medications to reduce pain, we can limit the side-effects caused by some of these medications, and we can reduce the amount of opioids needed to achieve good pain control.
