Improving Patient Satisfaction With Better Pain Management in Hospitalized Patients

Pain is a common problem in hospitalized patients. Pain management needed improvement at an urban level 1 trauma hospital unit as evidenced by below benchmark pain management Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems scores. A quality improvement project was implemented that consisted of an evidenced-based nursing education program and the development and use of an evidenced-based pain management algorithm for nurses. After completion of the quality improvement project, nurses showed significantly improved knowledge regarding pain management and pain scores improved. A pain management quality improvement project improved staff knowledge and patient satisfaction with pain management. •An evidenced-based educational program for nurses improves hospital nursing staff knowledge of pain management.•An evidenced-based educational program for hospital staff nurses improves hospitalized patient self-reported pain management HCAHPS.•An evidenced-based pain management algorithm improves hospitalized patient self-reported pain management HCAHPS.