Abstract

• The purpose of this study is to observe the administering of analgesice and sedatives to cases of surgery, the influence of the patients' situavional variables on the use of these drugs. and the required number of recovery days in relation to the patients' situational variables and general conditions. Fifty patients in the age range of 15 through 65 who had undergone general surgery at Seoul National University Hopital, Woo Sok University Hospital and Koryo Hospital between May and August of 1971 were chosen for this study. They were observed with regard to the frequency of pestoperative rses of analgesics and sedatives and the requied period of recovery in comparison with the situational vaiables of patients such as sex, age, marjtal status, the type and duration of anesthesia, experience of previous operation, history of cther diseases, preopcrative period of hospitalizaton; and the general conditions of patients such as sleep, stomach condition, bowel condition, urination, interest in surroundings, strength and energy, self-assistance and appetite. The study results were reviewed in a statistical method to obtain the following findings: 1. There was a significant decrease in the crequency of analgesic uses according to the number of days passed after operation. 2. The mean postoperative recovery days were 5.31 days and more than half of the patients have never used analgesics until recovery. 3. There was a significant decrease in the frequency of sedative uses according to the number of days passed after operation. 4. The rank-order correlation between the frequency of analgesic use and that of sedative use following surgery observed in relation to the number of postoperative days was a low and negative one. 5. All of the patients except one have used sedatives only once a day for the whole recovery period. 6. The longer they stayed in the hospital before surgery, the less have they used analgesics after surgery. 7. There were significant differences in use of analgesics after surgery by agegroups; the 24--44 age group used more analgesics than the 15-24 and 45-65 age groups. 8. There were no significant differences in use of analgesics after surgery by all situational variables except the number of days of hospitalization and age. 9. The longer they stayed in the hospital before surgery, the earlier have they recovered from the surgery. 10. There were no significant differences in the number of required recovery days by all situational variables except the length of preoperative hospitalization. 11. There were no significant differences in the number of required postoperative recorvery days by the general conditions of patients.

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