Pain Management Safety
This section of the toolkit consists of many tools related to pain management safety covering standards, patient agreement forms, screenings, practices, safety interventions and oversedation risks related to post administration of opioid therapy.
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The AAMI Foundation 2015 Opioid Compendium
The AAMI Foundation, with the support of key industry partners and other patient safety organizations, has launched a multiyear initiative to highlight the potentially catastrophic patient safety problem of opioid over sedation and misuse, making the case for a solution that can save lives: continuous electronic monitoring (CEM).
In this report, you will read about four families who suffered the death of a loved one due to undetected respiratory depression caused by opioid use, as well as the harrowing experience of a patient who narrowly missed becoming yet another statistic.
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TJC Enhances Pain Assessment and Management Requirements
From the Joint Commission Perspectives Newsletter comes the announcement of new and revised pain assessment and management standards that will go into effect January 1, 2018. Developed through rigorous research, evaluation and review processes, these enhancements will facilitate safer opioid prescribing and management practices for healthcare providers.
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Organization Assessment for Safe Opioid Practices
The proactive assessment of safety practices, especially those involving opioid use, can provide hospitals with valuable information about the weaknesses that exist within their medication-use system. Because the harm from errors involving opioids is potentially devastating, identifying the risks associated with opioid use should be considered a priority by healthcare organizations.
This assessment tool will help you analyze the safety of opioid practices in your facility and identify those key opportunities for improvement.
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Patient Agreement Forms for Pain Treatment
In this resource, you will find two sample patient agreement forms that can be used with patients who are beginning long-term treatment with opioid analgesics or other controlled substances. These documents contain statements to help ensure patients understand their role and responsibilities regarding their treatment, the conditions under which their treatment may be terminated, and the responsibilities of the healthcare provider. These documents can help facilitate communication between patients and healthcare providers and resolve any questions or concerns before initiation of long-term treatment with a controlled substance.
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San Diego Patient Controlled Analgesia Guidelines Toolkit
These guidelines were developed by the San Diego Patient Safety Task Force to provide acute care clinical leaders with recommendations for the standardization of intravenous Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA) medication administration in the care of the opioid naïve patient.
The PCA is an interactive method of pain management that allows patients to manage their pain by self-administering doses of analgesics, which usually involves opioids.
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Safeguarding Patients with Surveillance Monitoring
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center describes their journey from FMEA through performance improvement in reduction of adverse events related to over-sedation from opioid administration. This article offers best practices, challenges faced, solutions identified and the outcomes achieved through an interdisciplinary project which led to positive patient outcomes.
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Continuous Monitoring of Patient Vital Signs to Reduce Failure-to-Rescue Events
Johns-Hopkins Hospital describes their organization's successful continuous patient monitoring project. The organization’s philosophy was that no patient should suffer a failure-to-rescue event and they set out to implement processes to achieve that goal. This article describes how they used technology to improve patient outcomes and failure-to-rescue events related to over-sedation.
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Richmond Agitation Sedation Scale (RASS)
An evidence-based, objective sedation scale that can be used to determine a patient’s level of sedation. The scale helps you rank patients from combative through non-arousable states.
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Pediatric Acute Pain Management (Children’s Minnesota)
Sample policy and dosing guidelines for pain management in the pediatric population developed by Children’s Minnesota using the WHO Guidelines as a reference. This sample addresses the use of opioids, non-opioid medications and alternative therapy treatment based on the level of pain in a pediatric patient.
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Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services: Maternal Opioid Misuse (MOM) Model
The Maternal Opioid Misuse Model provides strategies to combat the opioid crises in the maternal health population.