Improving Patient Comfort with Nonpharmacologic Therapies

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Cecilia Kaechele (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Abstract: This quality improvement (QI) project was conducted on a 32-bed medical telemetry unit at a 235-bed hospital. The reason this project was chosen because the opioid crisis needs to be alleviated and one way we can help it is through the use of nonpharmacologic therapies when treating pain. The site understood the severity of the opioid crisis and had multiple nonpharmacologic therapies available for their patients. Despite this , the patient charts reflected that a nonpharmacologic therapy was only used 10% of the time when a patient complained of pain. The goal of this QI project was to increase the utilization , consistency , and completeness of nursing documentation on the use of the site's nonpharmacologic therapies. In order to meet these objectives , the project focused on two components including relevant education for nurses on the benefits of the use of nonpharmacologic therapies and the creation and distribution of a patient comfort menu. This QI project potentially fulfilled the three dimensions of the Triple Aim. Patient satisfaction may have improved because patients were able to direct and control their pain by selecting nonpharmacologic therapies. Second , population health was possibly enhanced because patients were now empowered to direct their care which provided the potential for less nosocomial complications and subsequent outpatient opioid abuse. Finally , reducing the per capita cost of health care may have been fulfilled as most of the nonpharmacologic therapies offered on the new patient comfort menu were free services.

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Other

Language: English

Date: 2018

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