Patient Satisfaction In Pain Management Essay

Patient Satisfaction In Pain Management Essay

Improving patient satisfaction scores with pain management is crucial to providing high-quality healthcare. To achieve this, nursing units often implement various strategies and interventions, encompassing educational, process improvement, and team engagement initiatives. This essay examines the strategies and interventions implemented in a nursing unit to improve pain management, their effectiveness in creating sustainable change, and the potential to exceed the national benchmark in the coming quarters and years.

The nursing unit employed various strategies and interventions over time, which can be categorized as educational, process improvement, and team engagement initiatives. Educational initiatives included training on patient satisfaction monitoring, lectures on pain and pain management, journal club discussions on pain management articles, and annual pain lectures with a focus on elderly NSAID use and polypharmacy (Young et al., 2020). Additionally, instructional sessions on patient teaching and attitudes toward addiction in the elderly were organized.

A comprehensive pain assessment tool and review of electronic medical records data on pain assessment and medication effectiveness in regular Quality Improvement (QI) team meetings were also conducted. The team compiled run charts on comprehensive pain assessment, documentation of pain medication effectiveness, and patient satisfaction. Additionally, the unit actively engaged the QI team and nursing staff in strategizing through meetings and discussions (Booth et al., 2019). They also embraced the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) rapid cycle improvement model with Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles.

While the efforts made by the nursing unit are commendable, there was an improvement in EMR data on pain medication effectiveness documentation. However, overall patient satisfaction scores remained in the low 70s, falling below the national benchmark of 85%. Despite multiple initiatives, the lack of sustained improvement indicates that certain strategies were more effective than others. The educational initiatives, such as lectures, journal clubs, and annual pain lectures, contributed to raising awareness and knowledge among the nursing staff (Booth et al., 2019). However, these interventions alone were insufficient to bring about a significant and lasting change.

The process improvement initiatives, especially the use of a comprehensive pain assessment tool and EMR data review, provide valuable insights into pain management practices. The implementation of PDSA cycles allows the team to refine their approaches based on real-time data, but the results did not consistently translate into higher patient satisfaction scores. The team engagement initiatives, including regular meetings and discussions, played a crucial role in fostering a culture of continuous improvement and teamwork contributed to the improvement observed in specific areas but may not have been enough to impact patient satisfaction scores significantly (Panicker et al., 2022). It is challenging to confidently predict whether the unit will consistently exceed the national benchmark in the next quarter year. While some positive trends are visible, sustained improvement is unclear, but there is room for further improvement.

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References

Booth, H. P., Gallagher, A. M., Mullett, D., Carty, L., Padmanabhan, S., Myles, P. R., Welburn, S. J., Hoghton, M., Rafi, I., & Valentine, J. (2019). Quality improvement of prescribing safety: a pilot study in primary care using UK electronic health records. The British Journal of General Practice: The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 69(686), e605–e611. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp19X704597

Panicker, L., Prasun, M. A., Stockmann, C., & Simon, J. (2022). Evaluation of chronic, noncancer pain management initiative in a multidisciplinary pain clinic. Pain Management Nursing: Official Journal of the American Society of Pain Management Nurses, 23(2), 122–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmn.2021.09.003

Young, C. D., Walker, A. M., Weber, B. A., & Spencer, A. O. (2020). Quality improvement assessment of a bianchi-technique pediatric orchiopexy perioperative pain management pathway. Journal of Pediatric Urology, 16(4), 461.e1-461.e9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpurol.2020.06.013

 

Read the following scenario:

 

Imagine that, for about a year, your nursing unit has been involved in an intensive campaign to improve patient satisfaction scores with pain management. You are getting good data from your patients, as the length of stay on this inpatient geriatric medical nursing unit is only about 6 days. Your hospital does 100% survey to inpatients, and the response rate is about 25%, which is higher than it has been. This notwithstanding, the percent of “patient very satisfied” (top box), with a score of 5, has been in the low 70s. The national benchmark for medical surgical units like yours is about 85% very satisfied. Of all the units in your hospital, your unit is the lowest scoring on this HCAPHS survey. But as your unit is the only geriatric medical nursing unit in the hospital, you’d always thought it was the nature of the patient population.

 

You have been the day shift representative to the QI team, and the scores on your unit are posted monthly. Here are the numerous strategies that have been tried on your unit and the timeframes.

 

For this Discussion, examine the strategies and interventions tried in your unit and consider the following questions: a) Were the strategies effective in creating a sustainable change on your nursing unit, and b) To what extent can your nurse manager and CNO count on your unit exceeding the national benchmark in the next quarter, the next year? That is, does this run chart have some predictive ability? Does the run chart support the nursing unit’s decision to celebrate? To what extent can the leadership be confident that the trend will continue?

 

Based on the scenario, explain what was done successfully and where improvement was needed in the quality improvement process. Identify the quality improvement tools and explain how they contributed to the outcome.

 

Support your response with references from the Resources and professional nursing literature. Your posts need to be written at the capstone level.

 

Notes Initial Post: This should be a 3-paragraph (at least 350 words) response. Be sure to use evidence to an external site. from the readings and include in-text citations to an external site. Utilize essay-level to an external site. writing practice and skills, including the use of transitional material to an external site. and organizational frames to an external site. Avoid quotes; paraphrase to an external site. to incorporate evidence into your own writing. A reference list to an external site. is required. Use the most current evidence to an external site. (usually ≤ 5 years old).