- Center on Health Equity and Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
Nurse Staffing Levels Linked to Patient Satisfaction With Pain Management
Hospitals with more nurses on staff and better nurse-patient communication tend to receive higher scores on patients’ satisfaction with pain management, according to new research.
Hospitals with more nurses on staff and better nurse-patient communication tend to receive higher scores on patients’ satisfaction with pain management, according to new research.
The study, published online in Pain Management Nursing, analyzed results from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Care Providers Systems survey from hospitals in California, Massachusetts, and New York. It examined the associations between patient perceptions of pain control and hospital staffing numbers of nurses, hospitalists, physicians, and residents. It also studied 21 other hospital-level factors that were correlated with patients’ pain management reports.
Patients’ perception of pain control improved significantly with increasing numbers of registered nurses, nursing staff, and hospitalists, but worsened with higher numbers of residents or interns. Additionally, both higher numbers of nursing staff and being treated in a nonprofit hospital decreased the likelihood of patients reporting their pain was poorly managed.
There were also several factors that made patients significantly more likely to report their pain was poorly controlled: they did not receive help as soon as they wanted, poor nurse communication, poor medication education, and being treated in a teaching hospital. Patients reported particularly low rates of pain control satisfaction if they were treated in teaching hospitals with rotating intern/resident assignments.
The researchers also determined that 79% of the variations in self-reports of pain control could be explained by just 6 predictors. Nurse staffing and nurse-patient communication were the strongest predictors of pain management perceptions among patients.
“The findings highlight the need for adequate numbers of nursing staff to achieve optimal patient satisfaction with pain management,” said lead author Judith Shindul-Rothschild, PhD, MSN, RN, in a news release from Boston College. “In addition, having a prescriber (physician or nurse practitioner) available 24/7 to offer continuity of care is essential.”
The results also point to the importance of strong communication among providers and patients in making sure that patients feel their pain needs are well managed.
“In addition to appropriate nurse staffing, our study highlights that an essential component to improve patients' satisfaction with pain management is to promote more effective collaboration among medical trainees, hospitalists, and nurses,” Shindul-Rothschild said.
How Can Digital Care Programs Aid Those With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain?
June 9th 2020On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Jeffrey Krauss, MD, chief medical officer of Hinge Health and Stanford Clinical assistant professor, about the efficacy of a 12-week digital care program aimed to reduce lower back and knee pain in a real-world population.
Listen
Understanding the Impact of Inappropriate Opioid Prescribing Practices
April 19th 2019Deaths from drug overdoses have become the leading cause of death for Americans under age 50, which can largely be attributed to prescription opioids. Due to the role of prescription opioids, understanding prescribing patterns and identifying inappropriate prescribing are crucial for changing the course of the epidemic.
Listen
MBSR Reduced Pain Perception in Patients With Migraine
December 19th 2020The finding about mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) was a secondary outcome of the double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. The primary outcome—a reduction in the frequency of migraines—was not reached.
Read More
