Prioritizing Pain & Symptom Management

Pain and symptom management is an interdisciplinary approach used in palliative care and hospice to relieve suffering, reduce illness burden, and improve overall quality of life. It integrates medication and supportive therapies to address physical, emotional, and spiritual distress and should be addressed on every plan of care. One of the biggest concerns of people dying on hospice is the fear of pain and suffering and CMS continues to add quality measures to HQRP, including pain screening and assessment.

In this presentation, we will dive into how to assess for pain and other symptoms, as they impact multiple patient activities and quality of life. How to evaluate, intervene, educate, document, and manage pain and symptoms through a variety of interventions will be presented. It is critical that we continue to educate our staff on pain and symptom management, including the importance of updating plans of care to meet the changing needs of patients and goals of care.