Answer these questions:

   Nurses assist patients in their pain experience. The pain experience is dependent on many variables, such as age, culture, past experience, duration, and intensity. Although the experience of pain is subjective, nurses choose appropriate pain scales to quantify severity. Pain management is best accomplished by working closely with the health care team and in collaboration with the patient. The Joint Commission (2018) has revised pain assessment and management standards, requiring hospitals to have policies that engage patients in treatment decisions and include at least one non-pharmacological pain treatment modality.  

 Directions: Please read the “Joint Comission’s Pain Management Update” and discuss the following with your classmates.

1. Explain one non-pharmacological treatment that you offer patients and describe the context in which it seems to work best.

2. Is there an alternative method of pain relief that you would like to learn?

3. Describe your approach to assessing pain in your patients.

4. Describe how you include patients in pain management decisions