Speaker
Description
Relevant BPG
Pain Assessment and Management
Background/Rationale
Effective pain assessment and management are essential to high-quality paediatric palliative care (PPC). Emily’s House, a paediatric hospice serving children with life-limiting illnesses, sought to increase alignment with the RNAO Best Practice Guideline (BPG) on Pain Assessment and Management to support consistent, evidence informed care.
Aim/Purpose
To build staff and organizational capacity for evidence-informed pain practices at Emily’s House through implementation of RNAO Pain Assessment and Management BPG recommendations, and to measure the impact of these changes.
Methods/Implementation Approach
A gap analysis and retrospective chart audit were conducted for end-of-life (EOL) care admissions during the 2024/25 fiscal year. Findings informed a multifaceted implementation strategy that included staff education, development of paediatric pain assessment quick-reference resources, revisions to clinical policies and documentation tools, and streamlined pain assessment workflows. Impact on staff knowledge was evaluated through pre- and post-implementation assessments.
Results/Outcomes
Baseline audits identified variability in pain assessment and management practices, including inconsistent use of age/developmentally appropriate assessment tools and evaluation of intervention effectiveness.
Pre-implementation data demonstrated that 25% of patients had a documented pain assessment, and among those, only 8.3% were complete.
Following implementation, 100% of patient charts had documented pain screening and 80% received a complete pain assessment, within one month of nurses receiving education. Nursing knowledge also improved, with mean test scores increasing from 74.5% to 92.1%, representing a 23.6% improvement.
Lessons Learned & Implementation for Practice
This project demonstrated how building staff capacity through education and protocols can support implementation of practice changes and generate measurable improvements in care delivery.
Next steps include continued data collection and evaluation of outcomes.
What RNAO BPG or tool/toolkit is your abstract related to?
Pain Assessment and Management
Author(s) Credentials and Title
Kimberly Daffern R.N BScN
Manager of Clinical Programs
| Organization Name | Emily's House |
|---|
