Quality assurance in acute pain therapy : Development of software for the acute pain service

A detailed documentation system is essential for an effectively working acute pain service. Patient-related documentation aids the physician with check lists and algorithms and may thus further improve clinical practice. As adequate software was missing, we developed a database that was first adapted to the in-house conditions, but can also be adjusted to other surroundings. By integrating "one-click documentation" and new codes for clinical observations, a user-friendly software was created that notably improved the quality of documentation. In the first test period more than 30,000 ward rounds were collected, and a considerably improved documentation quality could be achieved.