Patients are seen by APS on an inpatient referral basis. Patients scheduled for major surgery will be referred to the APS team on a case by case basis. 
 
The Acute Pain Service may also be consulted to assist with pain management in trauma patients, procedural analgesia, persistent post-surgical pain, medical patients, etc. when the attending service has not been successful with pain management despite the implementation of standard multi-modal analgesia therapy. 

The primary goal of the service is to build a hospital-wide commitment to pain management (an Accreditation Canada Standard).  This is achieved by collaborating with all healthcare providers involved with the patient’s care, as well as the patient themselves, to create an individualized plan of care for pain management.  

Pain control 

Opioid Use 

The APS provides hospital patients with pain and symptom support and management, 24-hours a day, 7 days a week by offering a wide variety of pain management techniques. Our goal is to improve patient comfort, recovery, and satisfaction. 
 
During the week (Monday-Friday), the APS performs dedicated rounds on all inpatients under APS care. Emergency evening and weekend coverage is provided by on-call anesthesiologists. 

After hours: After 1600 hours on weekdays and all weekend Anesthesia resident can be reached via pager *88 1662.  Only if the resident does not answer do you contact Anesthesia 1st call 

*Consultations must be made directly from the referring physician to the APS.  Direct telephone communication is strongly encouraged.*