An introduction to the ASPAN pain and comfort clinical guideline

Abstract

THE JOINT COMMISSION on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) mandates that all individuals have the right to effective pain/symptom management, and this mandate should be a part of basic clinical nursing care.1,2 The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ; formerly the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research [AHCPR]) also states that institutions have the responsibility for pain management and that this responsibility begins with the affirmation that patients should have access to the best level of pain relief that may be provided safely.3 Despite the availability of effective analgesics and new technologies for drug administration, studies continue to find suboptimal pain management.4 Health care professionals underestimate pain when performing clinical assessments, and this pain assessment is difficult because of the complex interactions between patient and practitioner.5 A lack of understanding about basic pain management concepts continues despite more recent efforts to improve nurses’ knowledge of pain management.6 Inadequate education of nurses in the area of pain concepts fails to prepare them to assess and control postoperative pain effectively.7