Effects of continuing education. Pain assessment and documentation

Even though greater than 60% oncology patients experience pain sometime during the course of their illness, management of this pain still remains an enormous clinical problem. Based on this report, it would appear that pain assessment and management would be a key concern in the care of oncology patients. Yet, from previous research, it is clear that a lack of pain assessment documentation exists, which essentially means legally assessment has not been performed. Because a lack of knowledge about pain could be a major reason for inadequate pain documentation, a continuing education class was designed for oncology nurses regarding pain assessment and the need for subsequent documentation of that assessment. This study evaluated the different groups of nurses: (a) a control group who attended the class, (b) an experimental group who attended the class and received a laminated pain assessment tool, and (c) a group who did not participate in the class; effects on pain assessment documentation. Effectiveness was measured by extracting pain assessment documentation from charts. No significant differences in documentation scores were noted across the three groups. Recommendations and nursing implications concerning continuing education strategies and pain assessment documentation are made.