Assessment and Management of Pain

Published: December 2013
Available in English, French, Italian, Spanish
Clinical

Purpose and scope

This guideline provides evidence-based recommendations for nurses and other members of the interprofessional team who are assessing and managing people with the presence or risk of any type of pain. We’ve designed this guideline to help nurses and their interprofessional teams become more…

This guideline provides evidence-based recommendations for nurses and other members of the interprofessional team who are assessing and managing people with the presence or risk of any type of pain.

We’ve designed this guideline to help nurses and their interprofessional teams become more comfortable, confident and competent. A specific focus: building the core competencies of nurses to help them be more effective in assessing and managing of pain without focusing on the type or origin of the pain. It is intended for use in all domains of health care and public health, including clinical work, administration and education. 

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Reference

Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (2013). Assessment and Management of Pain (third edition). Toronto, ON: Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario.

Recommendations

Do you want to learn about and implement the most- up-to-date evidence-based recommendations on this topic with your colleagues? Download and share the full best practice guideline (BPG), Assessment and Management of Pain.
See below for a snapshot of the recommendations from this BPG. We strongly suggest you review the full BPG before implementing the recommendations and good practice statements. The BPG also includes further resources to support implementation and evaluation.  

Disclaimer: These guidelines are not binding for nurses, other health providers or the organizations that employ them. The use of these guidelines should be flexible and based on individual needs and local circumstances. They constitute neither a liability nor discharge from liability. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the contents at the time of publication, neither the authors nor the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) gives any guarantee as to the accuracy of the information contained in them or accepts any liability with respect to loss, damage, injury or expense arising from any such errors or omission in the contents of this work.

Revision status

Current edition published 2013.

About the next edition

The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) is developing a fourth edition of this best practice guideline (BPG), with the working title Assessment and Management of Pain. The anticipated publication date is 2024. 

This new edition will replace Assessment and Management of Pain (2013). 

1. Topic selection
Complete
2. Panel of experts
Complete
3. Systematic Review
In progress
4. Recommendation development
5. Stakeholder review
6. Publication

Contact

Contact us for any questions.