PONV Management in Adult Patients: Evidence-based Summary

Abstract

Purpose

To summarize the evidence on perioperative nausea and vomiting management in adult patients worldwide.

Design

This is a summary of the best evidence on postoperative nausea and vomiting in adults.

Methods

Databases such as British Medical Journal Best Practice, Cochrane Library, Joanna Briggs Institute, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, National Guideline Clearing House, Guidelines International Network, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Embase, Yimaitong Clinical Guidelines, China Anesthesia Official website, SinoMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and VIP were searched to collect the relevant guidelines for clinical decision-making, best practices, systematic review, evidence summary, and expert consensus about perioperative nausea and vomiting management. The retrieval time was from the establishment of the database to January 2022. Two authors independently evaluated the quality of the included literature and extracted and summarized the evidence that met the quality criteria.

Findings

A total of 22 studies, including 1 best practice, 2 clinical decision-making articles, 7 evidence summaries, 1 clinical guideline, 9 systematic reviews, and 2 expert consensuses, were included. The summary of 37 pieces of evidence from 7 aspects: risk factors, assessment methods, multimodal prevention strategy, health education, nondrug intervention, drug prevention, postoperative analgesia management strategy, and organization management.

Conclusions

The health care team should select the best evidence according to the characteristics of the department and clinical practice, scientifically manage perioperative nausea and vomiting of patients, reduce the incidence and severity of nausea and vomiting, and promote the accelerated rehabilitation of patients.