Impact of Bundled Care: Optimizing Pain Management Outcomes in Acute Care

Despite therapeutic advances, inadequate pain management in hospitalized patients often leads to chronic pain and opioid dependency. Nonpharmacologic strategies offer potential benefits, especially when integrated into a bundled care approach that enhances pain management and patient engagement. This research aimed to test the effect of a standardized bundle of evidence-based pain care strategies on medical-surgical patients' perceived pain quality outcomes.

This study employed a 2-group, quasi-experimental design to assess the impact of a unit-based intervention, PAIN-X Therapy, on pain care quality outcomes compared to usual pain care.

There were 365 participants included in the study to determine the effects of pain care strategies. The Intervention group reported higher acetaminophen use (p = .0465), lower marijuana use (p = .0002), and greater use of alternative therapies (p = .0505). Those receiving comprehensive pain care reported better pain relief (OR=1.73, p < .05) and coping ability (OR=1.61, p < .05). Positive outcomes were observed for participants fully adhering to the therapy bundle.

Full PAIN-X Therapy improves patients' perceptions of pain care quality based on subsample analyses, emphasizing the need for further research to expand and refine these findings.

Implementing comprehensive pain care bundles enhances patient outcomes and fosters collaboration across healthcare teams, optimizing the delivery of evidece-based pain relief strategies.