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.
Labor and Delivery Department at University of Utah Hospital and Clinics, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. brenda.gulliver@hsc.utah.edu
Brenda G
BG
Gulliver
Janet
J
Fisher
Leissa
L
Roberts
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