Outcomes Measures in HealthcareMeasurement of outcome following a clinical intervention is an important function in nursing practice. By evaluating pain, for instance, a nurse comprehends the severity, location, exacerbating factors, among others. There are two benefits of measuring the patients’ outcomes. Significantly, the evaluation process provides important findings on when the drug therapy or conservative management is desirable. The process is crucial in monitoring patients’ conditions, ensuring timely holistic intervention and achieving an overall improvement of patients’ prognosis.
How do my outcomes support my project goals?
The goal of the project is to improve pain management among post-orthopedic patients undergoing rehabilitation in a nursing home. The objective is interrelated with outcomes in various ways. Notably, pain management is one of the important indicators of the post-operative patients’ wellbeing. Swafford et al. (2014) assert that to examine the severity of pain, appropriate tools are fundamental to measure accurately the degree of pain. Therefore, diagnosis of pain is a priority in management of pain. Secondly, the use of World Health Organization Pain Scale provides an important pain management advantage. Specifically, the scale determines when to give analgesics or when to withhold. Analgesic administration to post-orthopedic patients is critical in minimizing discomfort and suffering.
Moreover, pain management in nursing home requires adequate periodic assessment. This allows nurses to identify triggers of pain and create a conducive environment for the patients (Gregersen, Mørch, Hougaard, & Damsgaard, 2012). Pain management involves multiple aspects ranging from actual interventions to the environmental modification. Besides giving medication, pain assessment reveals cases of opioid or analgesic tolerance. Nurses, therefore, identify cases of tolerance and plan an alternative course of action. Following a post-orthopedic procedure, pain could be associated with an infection. It is, therefore, important to implement a plan on pain assessment. The overall importance of pain assessment using either of the identified techniques determines the quality of patients’ interventions and overall pain management.
What is your plan for measuring your outcomes?
In the assessment of pain, PACSLAC II model will be adopted. WHO Pain Ladder scale will be used to determine when to treat pain. For patients with communication barriers or behavioral problems, the assessment will be implemented in their charts as kept in patients’ admission and medical records for 2-4 weeks of implementation. The fidelity of using PACSLAC II and WHO pain ladder remains critical in the study. . The overarching goals of measuring pain outcomes in orthopedic patients is to ensure medication is given timely, improve patients’ comfort, and promote wellness.
Are these measures reflective of how goals were met?
The measures provide useful insight into the goals of the project. First, the PACSLAC II measure examines pain among patients’ with limited ability to communicate. The technique is mainly through observation of the patient and recording the findings. Parameters measured include facial expression, vocalization, changes in interpersonal relationships, and body movements among others. These various ways pain manifest in post-orthopedic surgery especially among the elderly patients. From the checklist, the severity of pain can be deduced and appropriate intervention implemented.
According to Zwakhalen, Van’t Hof, and Hamers (2012), the WHO pain scale provides guidelines on the use of analgesic. The guideline classifies pain into mild (step one), moderate (step two), and severe or (step three). Across the pain continuum, various drugs regimens should be administered. The analgesic ranges from non-opioid, weak opioid, and strong opioid. The outcome of the pain assessment system is instrument an appropriate pain intervention strategy. Patients rehabilitating in nursing homes require this evaluation tool to ensure that there is an appropriate use of analgesics. Besides, this tool ensures that nurses provide adequate monitoring of the patient, and this is important for the elderly patients who may not report pain.
- Gregersen, M., Mørch, M. M., Hougaard, K., & Damsgaard, E. M. (2012). Geriatric intervention in elderly patients with hip fracture in an orthopedic ward. Journal of Injury & Violence Research, 4(2), 45–51. http://doi.org/10.5249/jivr.v4i2.96
- Swafford, K. L., Miller, L. L., Herr, K., Forcucci, C., Kelly, A. M. L., & Bakerjian, D. (2014). Geriatric pain competencies and knowledge assessment for nurses in long term care settings. Geriatric Nursing, 35(6), 423–427. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.gerinurse.2014.06.001
- Zwakhalen, S. M. G., Van’t Hof, C. E., & Hamers, J. P. H. (2012). Systematic pain assessment using an observational scale in nursing home residents with dementia: Exploring feasibility and applied interventions. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 21(21-22), 3009–3017. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2702.2012.04313.x
