March 1, 1999

The MGH Pain Service, Palliative Care and Patient Care Services are working together to improve a critical aspect of patient care – pain assessment and management.

The collaboration has started a 2 1/2-year campaign, called MGH Cares About Pain Relief, to make pain relief a hospitalwide priority by educating all clinical staff and patients and generating changes in hospital policy.

The project has started evaluating pain management practices and examining patient and clinician knowledge and attitudes about pain relief. This assessment will be used to develop hospitalwide programs and interventions to target areas in which knowledge about pain relief may be deficient and to clarify any misconceptions. Supported by the Mayday Foundation, a global organization dedicated to pain management, MGH Cares About Pain Relief aims to establish guidelines that can be applied to educate clinicians at other medical centers as well.

Analysis of pain management practices is being piloted on Ellison 7, 12 and White 10. Other upcoming events include taking MGH’s "pain pulse," a hospitalwide, simultaneous test to determine the pain level of all inpatients. The information will serve as a baseline to measure the changes in pain levels resulting from the implementation of the MGH Cares About Pain Relief program.

Heather Young, RN, of Palliative Care and the Pain Service, who is the project manager of the campaign, says: "Despite clearly established guidelines for pain relief, poor pain management remains a reality. We hope to change this by making pain management a top priority in our daily work as caregivers." For more information regarding the MGH Cares About Pain Relief program, call 4-9193.