Cypress Cove Reaps Benefits from Pain Management Program

Cypress Cove at HealthPark Florida’s skilled nursing facility – The Lodge – reports it has developed a self-management pain program that has resulted in a 79 percent reduction of moderate to severe pain experiences reported by residents or patients recovering from injuries and postoperative procedures.

Revisions to their pain management program, which now empowers pain control participation by recovering patients, was prompted by efforts from Cypress Cove’s quality improvement team to broaden care for residents and patients at The Lodge.

Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP) Mary Lewis, a member of The Lodge’s quality improvement team, said that the program was developed using collaboration from staff in all facility disciplines. Program development, she said, faced special circumstances considering that patients were older (65 to 105, exclaims Lewis) and that recoveries from orthopedic injuries and surgeries are often very, very painful.

What resulted is a program where patient/resident participation in pain management is found to be markedly helpful in reducing the percentage of reported moderate to severe pain experiences.

To accomplish their successful program, Lewis and her team first devised a chart (form) which shows both the types of prescribed narcotic pain medications given to patients and the alternative in pain relievers available – from icing, to resting, to aromatherapy and to the use of non-narcotics.

The process, said Lewis, now allows The Lodge nursing staff to respond differently to regulating patient pain needs. “Decisions (for pain med administration), especially days into recovery, are left more often in the patient’s hands,” explains Lewis.

She says that patients, empowered by the process, are using less pain medications and are reporting less pain from their condition. The results – considering the challenges of pain from orthopedic surgeries – have also produced fewer side effects and greater quality of life.

Called a “multidisciplinary holistic pain management program,” Lewis recently displayed a poster and support materials regarding the program at the Florida Nurse Practitioner Network conference on Sanibel.

Photo by Cypress Cove-  Mary Lewis, Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner (ARNP) from Cypress Cove at HealthPark Florida, displays poster highlighting the community’s newest pain management program now being used at its skilled nursing facility – The Lodge.  The new self-management pain program has shown to provide even greater quality of care and satisfaction for residents/patients.