Post-operative pain management in a surgical unit in a tertiary hospital in Spain: a best practice implementation project.

Introduction: More than 80% of patients experience post-surgical pain. Poor pain control decreases patients' quality of life; increases associated comorbidity, hospital length of stay and hospital costs; and delays functional recovery. Implementing evidence-based recommendations improves these negative factors as well as the patient's quality of life.

Objectives: This evidence implementation project aimed to improve post-operative pain management by implementing best practice recommendations.

Methods: This project used the JBI Evidence Implementation Framework, which is grounded in an audit and feedback process. The project was conducted in the surgical unit of a tertiary hospital in Ciudad Real, Spain. We performed a baseline audit and two follow-up audits to measure audit criteria derived from a JBI evidence summary on pain management. A total of 30 surgical patients took part. We assessed the results of the baseline audit, identified the barriers to best practice, and implemented strategies to improve post-operative pain management.

Results: The first follow-up audit revealed an improvement in practice; however, these results worsened due to the delay in protocol approval and subsequent lack of staff motivation. The second follow-up audit showed greater compliance with best practices, although considerable room for improvement remains.

Conclusions: Implementing evidence-based practices in health care improved nurses' clinical practice. The health care staff complied with the recommendations more readily since they associated the best practices with a clear benefit for the patient.

Spanish abstract: http://links.lww.com/IJEBH/A276.