Assessment and management of post-surgical pain in adult patients undergoing thoracic surgery: a best practice implementation project.

Introduction and objectives: Effectiv. e management of post-operative pain improves the condition of patients and reduces their hospital stay. This, in turn, has an impact on caregivers, professionals, and institutions and, as such, is considered a primary indicator of quality. The aim of this project was to improve the assessment and management of post-surgical pain in thoracic surgery patients.

Methods: This implementation project was conducted in a thoracic surgery unit of a tertiary hospital in Spain. The project was guided by the JBI Evidence Implementation Framework, which is grounded in an audit, feedback, and re-audit strategy. A baseline audit was conducted with 44 patients, and barriers to best practice were identified. Strategies were then implemented to improve the assessment and management of post-operative pain. Three follow-up audits were performed using nine audit criteria with 34, 40, and 46 patients, respectively.

Results: The baseline audit revealed poor compliance with best practices. After implementing strategies to address areas of non-compliance, health education for patients and caregivers improved up to 80%, while the measurement of pain upon admission and post-surgery rose to 91%. However, patients undergoing pre-operative assessment to guide their post-operative pain management at hospital discharge remained below 50%.

Conclusions: Using a methodology to implement best practices, together with clinical audits, improved compliance with the use of validated scales to assess and manage pain. A multidisciplinary approach improves the quality of care received by patients and contributes to their recovery.

Spanish abstract: http://links.lww.com/IJEBH/A240.