Improvement of pain management in burn patients: a best practice implementation project

Effective pain management is crucial for burn patients in emergency departments due to the complex nature of burn pain.

This project aimed to assess and improve compliance with best practices in burn pain management in the emergency department of a hospital in Iran.

This project used the JBI Evidence Implementation Framework. We conducted baseline and follow-up audits over 3 months to identify barriers to compliance with best practices, implement targeted interventions, and re-evaluate practice.

Following the implementation of intervention strategies, the follow-up audit revealed significant improvements across all six criteria over a 3-month period. We observed increased compliance for individualized pain management plans (87.80% to 95.12%), appropriate pharmacological agent selection (95.12% to 100%), and multimodal pain management (80.49% to 92.68%). Furthermore, adherence to tailored opioid therapy significantly improved (60.98% to 85.37%), as did the practice of using fewer opioid types for effective pain management (48.78% to 80.49%). Patient education regarding pain medications also notably increased (68.29% to 90.24%). Barriers included lack of staff awareness concerning opioid administration and general best practices. These were addressed through standardized evidence-based training, educational workshops, and a simplified documentation checklist in Farsi.

This project achieved substantial advancements in burn pain management practices, highlighting the success of individualized, evidence-based strategies. These positive outcomes underscore the need for continued education, rigorous protocol adherence, and active patient engagement to sustain and enhance the quality of care for this vulnerable patient population.

http://links.lww.com/IJEBH/A522.