Inpatient pain care

Pain Medicine provides comprehensive, evidenced-based pain care to hospitalized patients at UCSF Health via multiple inpatient teams. The Acute Pain Service provides around-the-clock care to patients with pain after surgery, trauma, or other painful conditions. This service collaborates closely with the regional anesthesia team, providing ongoing management of epidural or peripheral nerve catheters. 

The Acute Pain Service also provides complex medication management, employing as necessary infusions of medications such as ketamine or lidocaine. There separate teams exist to provide care at Parnassus, Mount Zion, and Mission Bay Hospitals. Acute pain care teams also exist at the VA and ZSFG sites. At Benioff Children’s Hospital at Mission Bay, an Acute Pain Service run by pediatric anesthesiologists employs regional anesthesia and complex medication management to provide pain care for children after surgery.

The inpatient chronic pain service provides pain care to patients hospitalized with refractory pain related to cancer and chronic pain syndromes such as sickle cell disease, neuropathic pain syndromes, and more. This service also manages patients hospitalized with neuromodulatory devices, such as spinal cord stimulators or intrathecal pumps.

Our outpatient care teams also strive to provide individualized care and to smooth the transition between outpatient and inpatient care. As such, patients thought to be at risk for challenging peri-operative pain control or to be at risk for developing chronic post-surgical pain and chronic opioid use are often seen preoperatively at the Center for Pain Medicine. The outpatient pain care team will then work closely with inpatient pain teams and surgical and medical teams to ensure patients are successful after their surgical or medical episode. This innovative Transitional Pain Service model shows how the Pain Medicine provides high-quality care for patients throughout their care journey, not just in the inpatient or outpatient realms. 

Our faculty also hold leadership positions on UCSF Health adult and pediatric Pain Committees, ensuring safe, effective, and high-quality care for all patients at UCSF Health.