Improving Patient's Perception of Pain Management in a Community Hospital

Purpose:
The creation of a multi-disciplinary Pain Council at our small community hospital resulted in a very positive impact on our patients' experience of pain management in both surgical and medical patient care areas; improved nursing knowledge and attitudes about pain management resulted as well.

Significance:
Pain is one of the most frequent reasons that patients enter the acute care setting and perceptions about pain management are linked to a patient's overall perception of care. Currently, pain management affects hospital reimbursement through the Value Based Purchasing programs.

Strategy and Implementation:
A DNP student from our large hospital system helped to lead our small community hospital to create a Pain Resource Nurse and Colleagues program in 2010. This group has evolved into our current Pain Council, which is a multi-disciplinary collaboration between nurses, physicians, therapists and pharmacists, who work together to improve our patients' experiences around pain management. A survey regarding knowledge and attitudes about pain management preceded our work, and helped to determine progress along the path. MD/RN education about pain, annual pain fair booths, and the creation of a Pharmacy Pain Consult service all resulted in improvements in our care. Monthly unit-specific Pain Tidbits were employed to help deliver key messages to direct caregivers and local awards of Pain Bucks helped to recognize those who patients found outstanding in this area. Unit-specific feedback about performance and Pain Champions have also created the opportunity for improvement.

Evaluation:
The success of the implementation of a multi-disciplinary Pain Council was measured by our HCAPS data which rolled up into our Value Based Purchasing percentile ranking scores. We improved our ranking against similar hospitals nationally from 12th percentile in 2010 to 92nd percentile currently!

Implications for Practice:
Staff are more confident in knowing when and how to refer to the hospital consultation services now, and to have confidence in their own ability to contribute to the pain management experience of their patients. They employ appropriate scripting around the measures that they employ.