Optimising pain management protocols following cardiac surgery: A protocol for a national quality improvement study

Highlights • Severe pain is associated with tachyarrhythmias, shallow breathing and poor recovery.• Our protocol was effective at reducing post-cardiac surgery pain in a single centre.• It consists of pre-operative gabapentin and dividing patients based on risk of pain.• High-risk group receive PCA along with paracetamol and codeine given to all patients.• Centres will undertake a baseline audit, then implement a protocol and re-audit pain.