Evaluación del efecto de una intervención sobre la valoración, evaluación y manejo del dolor en pacientes hospitalizados

Abstract

Background: The proper assessment, evaluation and recording of pain influence on the correct management of it. There are scarce data about the prevalence of pain in hospitals and its¿ management. Objective: To determine the prevalence of moderate to severe pain in hospitalized patients. To evaluate the effects of an educational intervention on screening, assessment, recording and treatment of pain. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed before and after an intervention. The sources of information were patient interview, medical record and electronic medical prescription system. Results: 611 patients were recruited in phase 1 and 614 in phase 2. Prevalence of moderate to severe pain was 20.5% in phase 1 and 20.8% in phase 2. The use of pain severity scales and the frequency of pain record were increased after the intervention. The concordance between registered information also improved after the intervention. Analgesics were prescribed in 95% of the patients. Acid Suppression Therapy (AST) prescription was high in both phases. Appropriate prescription of AST increased after intervention. Discussion: Pain is still a frequent issue in hospitalized patient. Even so, we found lower prevalence figures that those reported previously. Assessment and documentation of pain improve after the intervention. However, these improvements do not lead to a reduction of the prevalence of pain at hospital.