Pain is the most common reason individuals seek medical attention. Pain assessment and management in the long-term care setting can be very challenging. Improving pain management practices is difficult, but extremely beneficial.

It is important to select the appropriate screening and assessment tools to identify and monitor each resident’s current pain status, pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions and response to interventions. Nursing home staff should begin with the tasks that are easiest to implement first and build on those successes.

For quality improvement resources and strategies, please visit the Chronic Pain Documents and Links sections.