Holistic Approach to Pain in Long-Term Care

This presentation allows participants to understand how team members at Sheridan Villa long-term care (LTC) centre prevent, identify, treat, and manage ongoing symptoms of pain. The information provided in this presentation targets all members of the health-care interdisciplinary team, family members and the person experiencing pain.

Through the course of this presentation, the participant understands how to systematically screen for the presence pain; perform a comprehensive pain assessment on persons unable to self-report using a validated tool; explore the persons knowledge and understanding about pain and pain management; document pain characteristics; collaborate with the person and/or the family to ensure a comprehensive approach to the plan of care; establish a comprehensive plan of care that incorporates the goals of the person and/or family; evaluate pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for effectiveness; teach the person and/or family about the pain management strategies; and to reassess for the persons response to the pain management interventions.

During this presentation, participants will learn how to:

• share the implementation of the pain management plan at Sheridan Villa long-term care centre using principles that maximize efficacy and minimize the adverse effects of pharmacological interventions
• gain a better understanding of how to screen for the presence of pain and to perform a comprehensive pain assessment on persons experiencing or at risk of any type of pain using a systematic approach and appropriate validated tools.
• identify next steps in how to teach a person, their family, and caregivers about the pain management strategies in their plan of care and address known concerns and misbeliefs
• intelligently use the clinical pathway to pain management
• design a model to prevent, identify, treat, and manage pain utilizing pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions
• use best practices to effectively prevent and manage pain
• monitor and manage the signs and symptoms of pain through assessments and re-assessments
• consistently develop a skillset that helps identify and screen for the presence of pain, perform a comprehensive pain assessment, document the pain characteristics, establish a comprehensive plan of care, implement strategies (pharma and non-pharma), evaluate outcomes, teaching, and re-assessing the persons response to the pain management interventions
• measure pain scores through the provided assessment tools to better understand the level of pain that person is experiencing and how to effectively treat utilizing pharmacological and non-pharmacological strategies

Features: 

• interaction with the multidisciplinary team, families, and the resident to create a plan of care that supports best possible outcomes
• latest in prevention, assessment, and management of pain to support a comprehensive plan of care that includes all disciplines of the healthcare team, family members, and caregivers
• integrated discussion boards to educate the person, staff, and family on how to prevent, identify, and sustain pain management
• presentations to be on-going and continuous to educate staff and support best possible outcomes for those living with and experiencing unmanaged signs and symptoms of pain

Presenters: 

• Darryl Hawtin (RPN, BSON) 
• Jela Jakovljevic (RN, SOC)