∗Surgical patients' and registered nurses' satisfaction and Perception of Using the Clinically Aligned Pain Assessment (CAPA©) Tool for Pain Assessment

Abstract

Pain management is a significant issue in all health care systems. Pain is often mismanaged because of lack of a comprehensive pain assessment. This often leads to inappropriate medication administration, inadequate pain relief, negative patient outcomes, and delayed discharges. There is an opportunity for developing a more comprehensive pain assessment. The Clinically Aligned Pain Assessment (CAPA©) pain tool was developed by the University of Utah.. It assesses 5 dimensions of pain: comfort, change in pain, pain control, functioning, and sleep. The purpose of the study was to determine if the patients and nurses were more satisfied discussing pain with CAPA© or the numeric rating scale (NRS) and words to describe pain, intensity, location, duration, and aggravating and/or alleviating factors (WILDA) tool. This study had a 2-group comparison design with mixed methods approach. One group comprised patients and the other group comprised nurses. There were 63 nurses and 95 patients enrolled in the study at two perioperative hospitals. The results demonstrated that the patients and nurses were more satisfied with using the CAPA© tool than the NRS/WILDA. The CAPA© tool allows for a more comprehensive way to assess pain which has the potential to create more effective treatments for pain, improve discharge time, and positive patient outcomes.