Do you want to learn more about the WHO analgesic ladder? What drugs and dosages are used in each step? How to use opioids (oral, parenteral and patches)? What are adjuvant analgesics? How can we prevent or treat side effects of analgesic drugs? How to use pain scales?

Practical Analgesia has been designed to allow quick reading of useful topics related to the management of pain. Flow-charts and tables with drug descriptions, dosages, and brand names aid in fast decision-making in emergencies, at the patient’s bedside, or during a a routine office visit. Brand names may vary from country to country.

Topics include general considerations (principles of pain management, types of pain, pain scales), treatment according to each step of the WHO analgesic ladder, description of drugs (NSAIDS, analgesics, opioids), use of adjuvant analgesics and prevention of analgesic side effects.

Other functions are:

- Room for notes: available in each section to add your own information.
- Voice notes: to save your own voice notes.
- Pain scales: show visual pain scales to your patients or use the behavioural rating scale with patients unable to provide self-reports of pain.
- Suggestion pages: send your comments, corrections, or suggestions to improve the application. Send your favourite web links. We will include them in later updates.