Institutionalizing Effective Pain Management Practices: Practice Change Programs to Improve the Quality of Pain Management in Small Health Care Organizations

The Resource Center of the American Alliance of Cancer Pain Initiatives provided templates, faculty, and ongoing consultation to assist seven state pain initiatives to implement programs to improve pain management practices. A total of 113 health care organizations participated. Each organization committed to support a team of two to three staff through a 10-month pain quality improvement process, which included a site visit, two educational conferences, pre- and postprogram analyses of the organizational structures in place to support pain assessment and management, quality improvement work plan development, and patient survey data collection. Postprogram results showed statistically significant increases in the presence of structural elements that are critical to effective pain management, as well as statistically significant, though modest, decreases in the percentage of patients who reported pain of any severity, and specifically moderate to severe pain, in the previous 24 hours. The largest changes occurred in long-term care facilities. Nevertheless, the percentage of patients in moderate to severe pain remained unacceptably high.