Acute Pain Service

• All patients who are within two weeks of the postoperative period (epidurals, continuous catheters, etc.)
• All trauma patients
• Intercostal nerve blocks, epidurals, or regional blocks in non-chronic pain patients

• known to the UNC Chronic Pain Clinic: CPS will write for medications when epidural is removed (& discharge instructions). An order for the CPS consult must be written.
• on chronic opiate therapy by an outside facility: if there is persistent difficulty controlling pain, even after the patient has returned to their preoperative opiate dosage, s/he should also be followed by the chronic pain service. A CPS consult should be obtained.

• If at anytime, the acute pain service feels the patient is a chronic pain patient or a patient is not responding to conventional therapies then a chronic pain consult should be obtained. An order must be written in the chart.
• Patients known to the UNC chronic pain clinic should be followed by the chronic pain service postoperatively.
• All non-acute cancer pain patients.