The use of visual aids to enhance pain management in elderly patients in the acute care setting

Pain assessments are rarely documented by health care workers outside pain services, which are a contributing factor to poor pain management. The acuity of most wards in major teaching hospitals is such that pain management often competes with overwhelming demands on clinicians’ time and thought processes. Strategies to overcome these barriers to effective pain management include the use of promotional materials as part of a multimodal approach which included face-to-face staff education. The use of visual aides or reminders to clinicians may have a greater impact on changing practice than traditional interventions such as education alone. Many studies in the area use multifaceted programs with a number of interventions combined to produce the desired outcome of changing clinicians’ behaviour and improving care for patients. It has been demonstrated that posters placed at crucial points can assist to ensure that a targeted message can get through to clinical staff.