Most postpartum moms OK with self-administered pain meds

(HealthDay)—There is high satisfaction for a postpartum self-administered medication (SAM) program on postpartum wards, according to a study published online Dec. 20 in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice.

Hugo Schérer, Pharm.D., from the Université de Montréal, and colleagues conducted a prospective mixed methods survey in a mother-and-child tertiary center. Included in the survey were women enrolled in the postpartum SAM program who had a live newborn. Newborns cohabited with their mother during their hospitalization and received breast milk once or more. Data were included for 314 mothers and 263 breastfed newborns.

The researchers found that 97 percent of SAM users appreciated the program. There was an 80 percent self-reported median overall improvement in pain. Traditional drug dispensing by the nurse would have been preferred by 18 percent of users who delivered vaginally and 32 percent who delivered via cesarean section (P = 0.009). Generally, drugs used in the SAM program were well tolerated. No worrisome adverse drug events were reported in the medical charts of newborns.

"The results suggest that the SAM program should remain a standard practice in our institution," the authors write. "Some recommendations will be drawn to better tailor the SAM program to the needs expressed by the users."

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