The New York State Nurses Association is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

This course has been awarded 1.35 contact hours.

In 2001, the Joint Commission stated that effective pain management is a crucial component of good care. The standards mandated that all healthcare professionals are required to:

• Recognize the rights of patients to appropriate assessment and management of pain.

• Assess the existence, and if possible, the intensity of pain in all patients.

• Record the results of the assessment in a way that facilitates reassessment and follow-up.

• Determine and ensure staff competency in pain assessment and management, and address pain assessment that supports the appropriate prescription or ordering of effective pain medication.

• Educate patients and their familes about effective pain management.

• Address patient needs for symptom management in the discharge process.

In order to assess and treat pain effectively, healthcare professionals need to educate themselves on the components of pain and certain sub-populations that they may encounter.

© NYSNA 2008, all rights reserved.

Course Objectives

At the completion of this learning activity the learner will be able to:

• Describe the most commonly abused prescription drugs.

• Identify differences between tolerance, physical dependence, pseudoaddiction, and addiction.

• Identify the options available to those in recovery from substance abuse and to manage both acute and chronic pain.