A new way to assess pain in laboring women: replacing the rating scale with a "coping" algorithm.
In 2001, the Joint Commission introduced a compliance guideline designed to improve pain care for all patients. In response, most hospitals created a pain policy that was intended to be implemented for all hospital patients. This article describes how nurses in a busy labor and delivery unit created a pain management policy that met the Joint Commission's goals and also supported their desire to assist laboring women in the most appropriate way possible.
Gulliver
Brenda G
BG
Labor and Delivery Department at University of Utah Hospital and Clinics, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. brenda.gulliver@hsc.utah.edu
Fisher
Janet
J
Roberts
Leissa
L
D000046:Academic Medical Centers / Q000458:organization & administration; D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007591:Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations; D048949:Labor Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000451:nursing*; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D016294:Models, Nursing; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D007744:Obstetric Labor Complications / Q000451:nursing* / Q000517:prevention & control; D011247:Pregnancy; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States; D016387:Women's Health