Sourcebook : 3.1 Preventing, assessing, and treating pain

Some organizations write and post statements about pain management that explicitly describe patient rights and responsibilities, along with what to expect from health care providers. Such statements put into concrete terms what an institution believes it should do for patients, and demonstrates a commitment to pain management.

All patients have a right to pain relief. Health care providers will:

• Inform patients at the time of their initial evaluation that relief of pain is an important part of their care and respond quickly to reports of pain.
• Ask patients on initial evaluation and as part of regular assessment about the presence, quality, and intensity of pain and use the patients' self-report as the primary indicator of pain.
• Work together with the patient and other health care providers to establish a goal for pain relief and develop and implement a plan to achieve that goal.
• Review and modify the plan of care of patients who have unrelieved pain.

From "Building an Institutional Commitment to Pain Management, The Wisconsin Resource Manual for Improvement," Wisconsin Cancer Pain Initiative, University of Wisconsin.

This text is derived from the book Improving Care for the End of Life : A Sourcebook for Health Care Managers and Clinicians.