A prospective audit project into the adequacy of pain assessment in the medical and surgical wards in a North London District General Hospital

A Comprehensive Assessment of The Eight Vital Signs

The term “vital sign” has been assigned to various phenomena with the presumptive intent to emphasize their importance in health care resulting in the emergence of eight vital signs with multiple designations and overlapping terms. This review developed a case definition for vital signs and identified and described the fifth through eighth vital signs. PubMed/Medline, Google and biographical databases were searched using the individual Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms, vital sign and fifth, vital sign and sixth, vital sign and seventh, and vital sign eighth. The search was limited to human clinical studies written in English literature from 1957 up until November 30, 2021. Excluded were articles containing the term vital sign if used alone without the qualifier fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth or about temperature, blood pressure, pulse, and respiratory rate. One hundred ninety-six articles (122 for the fifth vital sign, 71 for the sixth vital sign, two for the seventh vital sign, and one for the eighth vital sign) constituted the final dataset. The vital signs consisted of 35 terms, classified into 17 categories compromising 186 unique papers for each primary authored article with redundant numbered vital signs for glucose, weight, body mass index, and medication compliance. Eleven terms have been named the fifth vital sign, 25 the sixth vital sign, three the seventh, and one as the eighth vital sign. There are four time-honored vital signs based on the case definition, and they represent an objective bedside measurement obtained noninvasively that is essential for life. Based on this case definition, pulse oximetry qualifies as the fifth while end-tidal CO2 and cardiac output as the sixth. Thus, these terms have been misappropriated 31 times. Although important to emphasize in patient care, the remainder are not vital signs and should not be construed in this manner.

Pain as the fifth vital sign-A comparison between public and private healthcare systems

Background

The assessment of pain as the fifth vital sign (P5VS) is of paramount importance since it leads to the management of undertreated pain, consequently reducing suffering, readmissions and emergency department visits after hospital discharge.

Objective

To evaluate the implementation of P5VS in public and private hospitals.

Methods

Data analysis on validated questionnaires was sent to all 171 Portuguese hospitals via an official letter.

Results

When compared to private hospitals, public hospitals presented a higher adherence to the process related to the P5VS. It has demonstrated superiority in the charts properly placed to record P5VS, in the number of emergency departments recording P5VS, in the regularity of audits, and in the existence of guidelines and staff training on pain assessment and management.

Conclusion

The standardization of both evaluation and recording of pain intensity constitutes a measure of good clinical practice. Public hospitals demonstrated better commitment to these procedures that should be properly carried out in all health care institutions.

Understanding Nurses' Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Pain Assessment in Dementia: A Literature Review

BACKGROUND

Pain is underrecognized and undertreated in patients with dementia. It has been suggested that nurses' attitudinal barriers may contribute to the challenges surrounding pain assessment and management in dementia.

AIMS

This integrative literature review aims to identify and explore nurses' knowledge and attitudes towards pain assessment in older people with dementia and how it may affect pain management in this patient group.

METHOD

Electronic searches were conducted in Web of Science, MEDLINE, Scopus, ProQuest, PubMed, and EBSCOhost from January 2008 to December 2018 for articles specifically focusing on nurses' knowledge and attitudes towards pain assessment in older patients with dementia.

RESULTS

Ten studies were included in the review after meeting the inclusion criteria. Data extracted from each study included study design, aims and objectives, setting/sample, findings, and limitations. Patients with dementia are at greater risk of experiencing underassessment, undertreatment, and delayed treatment of pain due to nurses' knowledge deficits and uncertainty in the decision-making process. Nurses see providing comfort and reducing pain as ethical obligation. However, they find pain assessment a challenge due to the complexity of recognizing painful behaviors, and difficulty differentiating between pain and behavioral disturbances in dementia. Poor multidisciplinary communication, time constraints, and workload pressure, as well as uncertainty about opioid use, are important barriers to effective pain assessment and management among patients with dementia.

CONCLUSION

It is essential that nurses gain confidence in distinguishing signs and symptoms of pain from behavioral changes in dementia. It is important to improve interdisciplinary communication and to get physicians to listen and prioritize pain assessment and management.

Impact of a pain management program on nurses' knowledge and attitude toward pain in United Arab Emirates: Experimental-four Solomon group design

BACKGROUND

Lack of knowledge about pain is a common barrier to effective pain management. Educational pain management programs directed to health care professionals can improve knowledge and attitudes about pain. However, changing practice is more challenging, but can be achieved with more targeted educational interventions within the clinical setting.

OBJECTIVES

The main objective of this study was to examine which of four separate pain management educational designs improved nurses' knowledge and attitudes toward pain over time. Secondary objectives were to compare and contrast nurse's knowledge and attitudes toward pain before and after the educational intervention.

DESIGN

This randomized controlled trial using a four Solomon group design.

SETTING

This study took place in Dubai Hospital, Dubai Health Authority, in United Arab Emirates between January 2019-April 2019.

PARTICIPANTS

The sample consisted of 200 registered nurses who were randomly selected and assigned into four separate educational groups. Participants had at least one year of experience in Dubai hospital prior to data collection.

RESULTS

paired t-test has shown the experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group (p < 0.01). One-way ANOVA revealed significant post-test score differences between groups p < 0.001. A repeated measures ANOVA with a Greenhouse-Geisser correction determined that mean scores over three months was not statistically significant. Indicating that the level of knowledge did not change over time within any of the groups.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The most important findings were the relatively low pre-test knowledge scores among staff nurses, and the significant improvement in knowledge for most test items following the educational intervention. Moreover, the level of knowledge and attitudes were maintained over three months. The pain management program proved to be effective in improving nurses' pain knowledge, attitudes, and assessment practices. Nurses in the experimental group increased their pain score significantly after the pain management program. Registration number: NETUBR.

Congruence between nurses' and patients' assessment of postoperative pain: a literature review

Postoperative pain remains poorly managed for many patients. Effective pain management begins with accurate pain assessment, with patient self-reporting considered the most accurate measure of pain. This literature review aimed to identify how congruent nurses' assessments of pain were with patients' self-reporting. A search identified six observational studies and one quasi-experimental study that met the inclusion criteria. The findings from these studies were summarised under two themes: nurses' underestimation of patients' pain and nurses' knowledge and understanding of pain assessment. Some nurses' pain management knowledge was deemed inadequate, with evidence of negative attitudes towards managing pain in certain groups of patients. Educational interventions have so far had limited impact on correcting the ethical and professional problem of inadequate pain relief in many patients postoperatively. Randomised controlled trials are required to identify effective education interventions that can contribute to ending this avoidable suffering.

Interpreting intracorporeal landscapes: how patients visualize pathophysiology and utilize medical images in their understanding of chronic musculoskeletal illness

Medical science and other sources, such as the media, increasingly inform the general public's understanding of disease. There is often discordance between this understanding and the diagnostic interpretations of health care practitioners (HCPs). In this paper - based on a supra-analysis of qualitative interview data from two studies of joint pain, including osteoarthritis - we investigate how people imagine and make sense of the pathophysiology of their illness, and how these understandings may affect self-management behavior. We then explore how HCPs' use of medical images and models can inform patients' understanding. In conceptualizing their illness to make sense of their experience of the disease, individuals often used visualizations of their inner body; these images may arise from their own lay understanding, or may be based on images provided by HCPs. When HCPs used anatomical models or medical images judiciously, patients' orientation to their illness changed. Including patients in a more collaborative diagnostic event that uses medical images and visual models to support explanations about their condition may help them to achieve a more meaningful understanding of their illness and to manage their condition more effectively. Implications for Rehabilitation Chronic musculoskeletal pain is a leading cause of pain and years lived with disability, and despite its being common, patients and healthcare professionals often have a different understanding of the underlying disease. An individual's understanding of his or her pathophysiology plays an important role in making sense of painful joint conditions and in decision-making about self-management and care. Including patients in a more collaborative diagnostic event using medical images and anatomical models to support explanations about their symptoms may help them to better understand their condition and manage it more effectively. Using visually informed explanations and anatomical models may also help to reassure patients about the safety and effectiveness of core treatments such as physical exercise and thereby help restore or improve patients' activity levels and return to social participation.

Pain Assessment Discrepancies: A Cross-Sectional Study Highlights the Amount of Underrated Pain

BACKGROUND

Inadequately treated postoperative pain can lead to longer healing processes, longer hospital stays, and the development of chronic pain. In a 900-bed university hospital in Switzerland, pain scores were assessed systematically. The study's primary aim was to define whether the routine pain assessment on the ward is accurate and reproducible. Subsequently the obtained data were used for a benchmark analysis to determine the hospital's performance in pain assessment quality compared with similar centers.

METHODS

During a 3-month period, PAIN OUT questionnaires were used for patients' interviews. Patients were included randomly according to the daily surgical schedule. Pain scores were assessed routinely by nursing staff on the wards and compared to PAIN OUT data. The ascertained data were analyzed by descriptive statistics as well as the Wilcoxon test for nonparametric values using IBM SPSS.

RESULTS

658 patients were included in the study. Comparing routine pain measurements with PAIN OUT results revealed that within the first 24 hours on the ward, pain scores were significantly lower than measured with PAIN OUT questionnaires. This difference increased with increasing pain scores. The quality of pain management of the hospital in which this study was performed ranged around the 50th percentile when compared to similar centers.

CONCLUSION

The cross-sectional data comparison of pain assessment by the ward staff and by interviews with the PAIN OUT questionnaire showed a large gap of underrated pain. The benchmark analysis with the method of PAIN OUT suggests a decent pain management among reference groups.

A Nursing Pain Assessment and Record Information System: Design and Application in the Oncology Department

Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional feeling accompanying existing, impending, or potential tissue damage. Valid pain assessment and standardized pain documentation are important in oncology pain management; however, they are still deficient. Thus, we developed a pain assessment and record information system for nurses in the oncology department and implemented a questionnaire survey to evaluate users' acceptance of the system. The pain assessment system focused on usability and efficiency to provide a modified workflow that was safe, less time-consuming, patient centered, enjoyable, and efficient. The pain assessment and record chart types in the system enabled greater standardization of pain assessments and records. The application of the system greatly improved the efficiency of nursing in the oncology department, guiding nurses in an accurate and comprehensive patient pain assessment and contributing significantly to further improvement in pain care standards and care decisions. Nurses and doctors surveyed reported a high degree of satisfaction with factors such as saving time and improving the capacity of pain control, suggesting that the system enhanced the quality of pain management. Through this system, we can promote pain management, improving care quality for patients.

The changing face of acute pain services

Background and Aims

Acute Pain Services have been implemented initially to treat inadequate postoperative pain. This study was undertaken to prospectively review the current challenges of the APS team in an academic hospital assessing the effects of its activity on both surgical and medical pain intensity. It also define the characteristics of the patients and the risk factors influencing the multiple visits from the APS team.

Method

This prospective cohort study was conducted at Uppsala University Hospital (a Swedish tertiary and quaternary care hospital) during one year. All the patients referred to the APS team were enrolled. A standardized data collection template of demographic data, medical history, pain diagnosis, associated diseases, duration of treatment, number of visits by the APS team and type of treatment was employed. The primary outcomes were pain scores before, after treatment and the number of follow-ups. The patients were visited by APS at regular intervals and divided by the number of visits by APS team into several groups: group 1 (one visit and up to 2 follow ups); group 2 (3 to 4 follow-ups); group 3 (5 to 9 follow-ups); group 4 (10 to 19 follow-ups); group 5 (>20 followups). The difference between groups were analyzed with ordinal logistic regression analyses.

Results

Patients (n = 730) (mean age 56±4, female 58%, men 42%) were distributed by service to medical (41%) and surgical (58%). Of these, 48% of patients reported a pain score of moderate to severe pain and 27% reported severe pain on the first assessment. On the last examination before discharge, they reported 25–30% less pain (P = 0.002). The median NRS (numerical rating scores) decreased significantly from 9.6 (95% confidence interval, 8.7–9.9) to 6.3 (6.1–7.4) for the severe pain (P < 0.0001), from 3.8 (3.2–4.3) to 2.4 (1.8–2.9) for the moderate pain. The odds ratio for frequent follow-ups of the patients between 18 and 85 years (n = 609) was 2.33 (95% CI: 1.35–4.02) if the patient had a history of chronic neuropathic pain, 1.80(1.25–2.60) in case the patient had a history of chronic nociceptive pain, 2.06(1.30–3.26) if he had mental diseases, and 3.35(2.21–5.08) if he had opioid dependency at the time of consultation from APS. Strong predictors of frequent visits included female gender (P = 0.04).

Conclusions

Beside the benefits of APS in reducing pain intensity, this study demonstrates that the focus of APS has been shifted from the traditional treatment of acute surgical pain to the clinical challenges of treating hospitalized patients with a high comorbidity of psychiatric diseases, opioid dependency and chronic pain.

Implications

The concept of an APS will ultimately be redefined according to the new clinical variables. In the light of the increasing number of patients with complex pain states and chronic pain, opioid dependency and psychiatric comorbidities it is mandatory that the interdisciplinary APS team should include other specialties besides the “classical interdisciplinary APS team”, as psychiatry, psychology, rehabilitation and physiotherapy with experience in treating chronic pain patients.

The relative meaning of absolute numbers: the case of pain intensity scores as decision support systems for pain management of patients with dementia

Background

Assessment and management of pain in patients with dementia is known to be challenging, due to patients’ cognitive and/or communication difficulties. In the UK, pain in hospital is managed through regular assessments, with the use of pain intensity scores as triggers for action. The aim of this study was to understand current pain assessment practices, in order to later inform the development of a decision support tool designed to improve the management of pain for people with dementia in hospital.

Methods

An exploratory study was conducted in four hospitals in the UK (11 wards), with observations of patients with dementia (n = 31), interviews of staff (n = 52) and patients’ family members (n = 4) and documentary analysis. A thematic analysis was carried out, structured along dimensions of decision making. This paper focuses on the emergent themes related to the use of assessment tools and pain intensity scores.

Results

A variety of tools were used to record pain intensity, usually with numerical scales. None of the tools in actual use had been specifically designed for patients with cognitive impairment. With patients with more severe dementia, the patient’s body language and other cues were studied to infer pain intensity and then a score entered on behalf of the patient. Information regarding the temporality of pain and changes in pain experience (rather than a score at a single point in time) seemed to be most useful to the assessment of pain.

Conclusions

Given the inherent uncertainty of the meaning of pain scores for patients with dementia, numerical scales were used with caution. Numerical scores triggered action but their meaning was relative - to the patient, to the clinician, to the time of recording and to the purpose of documenting. There are implications for use of data and computerized decision support systems design. Decision support interventions should include personalized alerting cut-off scores for individual patients, display pain scores over time and integrate professional narratives, mitigating uncertainties around single pain scores for patients with dementia.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12911-015-0233-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.