Five win certificates in pain free hospital pilot scheme
A pain-free Hospital pilot project launched in Germany three years ago has ended with the first five of 25 hospitals being awarded a Qualified Pain Therapy certification.
The scheme’s aim was to optimise pain control for patients through regular monitoring, staff training and standardised treatment procedures, thereby shortening recuperation times.
Pain levels were recorded with questionnaires, interviews and observation and the collected data formed the basis for customised optimisation concepts that were put into practice then rechecked from summer 2005.
Doctors and nursing staff now regularly measure patients’ pain levels, a procedure that enables them to administer more effective painkillers. This leads to increased mobility and improved quality of life. Patients also became actively involved in their own therapy; at the Martha-Maria Hospital in Halle-Dolau, near Magdeburg in Saxony, the proportion suffering afternoon pain decreased from 70% to 30%. Night-time pain levels were reduced by 15%.
The five clinics to be awarded the certification are the Malteser Hospital St. Franziskushospital in Flensburg, the Municipal Hospital Martha-Maria in Halle-Dolau, the Bethanien Hospital for the County of Moers, the Clinic for General Surgery/Clinic for Accident Surgery/Clinic for Anaesthetics and Operative Intensive Medicine at the University Hospital of Munster and the Accident Hospital for Industrial Injuries in Tubingen.
This article was published on 12/27/2006