Healthcare organizations are responsible for assessing the quality of their services to identify and address opportunities for improvement, ensuring safe and effective care. Our teams have observed frequent issues related to the pain management of patients. These issues include the assessment and re-assessment of pain before and after interventions, the actions taken when pain goals are not met after these interventions, and ensuring that treatment protocols, such as medication orders, comply with required standards.
Despite identifying numerous opportunities for improvement, it is evident that organizations are not effectively monitoring their own pain management practices. This lack of monitoring prevents the identification of issues that could be addressed. Certain regulatory agencies specifically require organizations to gather and analyze data regarding pain assessment and management practices. However, many organizations have not incorporated this requirement into their Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement programs.
We encourage you to review your performance improvement measures related to pain management to ensure they capture these opportunities for improvement. Conduct a thorough analysis of trends and underlying factors that may be contributing to the identified issues. Establish clear priorities and communicate your findings through your quality reporting process. Implement process improvement initiatives and measure the success of these interventions. Managing patients' pain should be a core quality measure for organizations that provide services to individuals in discomfort.
Please contact us for questions or more information at 704-573-4535 or info@courtemanche-assocs.com.
Courtemanche & Associates specializes in Healthcare Accreditation and Regulatory Compliance Consulting Services. With over 30 years of being in business and 100+ years of healthcare experience amongst our consulting team, we are ready to assist with your accreditation and regulatory compliance needs.
