Here’s what you can do
Here’s what you can do
Steps your committee can take
Your ethics committee can take the following steps to prepare your facility for the new pain management standards from the Joint Commis sion on Accreditation of Healthcare Organiza tions in Oakbrook Terrace, IL. The suggestions come from June L. Dahl, PhD, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School in Madison. Dahl also serves as executive director of the Wisconsin Cancer Pain Initiative, which helped develop the standards for the Joint Commission.
• Inform patients during their initial evaluation that relief of pain is an important part of their care.
• Ask patients in the initial evaluation and as part of regular assessment about the presence, quality, and intensity of their pain.
• Work with patients and other health care providers to establish a goal for pain relief.
• Review and modify the plan of care for patients who have pain.
• Use ethics rounds to address pain and identify patients with ethical dilemmas.
• Address the myth that opioids hasten death, are addictive, and that tolerance to them develops quickly.
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