Acute postoperative pain remains a major problem, resulting in multiple undesirable outcomes if inadequately controlled. Most surgical patients spend their immediate postoperative period in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU), where pain management, being unsatisfactory and requiring improvements, affects further recovery. Recent studies on postoperative pain management in the PACU were reviewed for the advances in assessments and treatments. More objective assessments of pain being independent of patients’ participation may be potentially appropriate in the PACU, including photoplethysmography-derived parameters, analgesia nociception index, skin conductance, and pupillometry, although further studies are needed to confirm their utilities. Multimodal analgesia with different analgesics and techniques has been widely used. With theoretical basis of preventing central sensitization, preventive analgesia is increasingly common. New opioids are being developed with minimization of adverse effects of traditional opioids. More intravenous nonopioid analgesics and adjuncts (such as dexmedetomidine and dexamethasone) are introduced for their opioid-sparing effects. Current evidence suggests that regional analgesic techniques are effective in the reduction of pain and stay in the PACU. Being available alternatives to epidural analgesia, perineural techniques and infiltrative techniques including wound infiltration, transversus abdominis plane block, local infiltration analgesia, and intraperitoneal administration have played a more important role for their effectiveness and safety.

Postoperative residual neuromuscular block is a serious threat which endangers the patient safety. Neostigmine has been the most commonly used anticholinesterase for the pharmacological reversal of neuromuscular blockade. Although newer agents have been introduced recently, neostigmine has some irreplaceable advantages, including broad-spectrum reversal of all nondepolarizing neuromuscular blocking drugs, low cost, and availability of more related data for clinical practice to refer to. Neostigmine is also noticed to have some drawbacks, such as the inability to reverse profound and deep blockade, potential induction of muscle weakness, cardiovascular adverse effects, and so on. Data on the usage of neostigmine in the geriatric and the pediatric population are still insufficient. Some discrepancies are observed in the results from previous studies which need further investigation. However, recent studies offer some renewed information. Regarding both efficacy and safety, the key for successful reversal of neuromuscular blockade is to use neostigmine “appropriately,” optimizing the dosage and timing of administration under close monitoring.

Background: Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) pathways have been shown to improve clinical outcomes after surgery. Considering the importance of patient experience for patients with benign surgery, this study evaluated whether improved compliance with ERAS protocol modified for gynecological surgery which recommended by the ERAS Society is associated with better clinical outcomes and patient experience, and to determine the influence of compliance with each ERAS element on patients’ outcome after benign hysterectomy. Methods: A prospective observational study was performed on the women who underwent hysterectomy between 2019 and 2020. A total of 475 women greater 18 years old were classified into three groups according to their per cent compliance with ERAS protocols: Group I: < 60% (148 cases); Group II:≥60 and < 80% (160 cases); Group III: ≥80% (167 cases). Primary outcome was the 30-day postoperative complications. Second outcomes included QoR-15 questionnaire scores, patient satisfaction on a scale from 1 to 7, and length of stay after operation. After multivariable binary logistic regression analyse, a nomogram model was established to predict the incidence of having a postoperative complication with individual ERAS element compliance. Results: The study enrolled 585 patients, and 475 completed the follow-up assessment. Patients with compliance over 80% had a significant reduction in postoperative complications (20.4% vs 41.2% vs 38.1%, P < 0.001) and length of stay after surgery (4 vs 5 vs 4, P < 0.001). Increased compliance was also associated with higher patient satisfaction and QoR-15 scores (P < 0.001),. Among the five dimensions of the QoR-15, physical comfort (P < 0.05), physical independence (P < 0.05), and pain dimension (P < 0.05) were better in the higher compliance groups. Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) (P < 0.001), postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) prophylaxis (P < 0.001), early mobilization (P = 0.031), early oral nutrition (P = 0.012), and early removal of urinary drainage (P < 0.001) were significantly associated with less complications. Having a postoperative complication was better predicted by the proposed nomogram model with high AUC value (0.906) and sensitivity (0.948) in the cohort. Conclusions: Improved compliance with the ERAS protocol was associated with improved recovery and better patient experience undergoing hysterectomy. MIS, PONV prophylaxis, early mobilization, early oral intake, and early removal of urinary drainage were of concern in reducing postoperative complications. Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR1800019178. Registered on 30/10/2018.