Purdue accepts no responsibility for any of the content of the linked site and does not endorse the site. The single most reliable indicator or the existence and intensity of pain and any resultant distress is the patient's self report. This was the opening reminder at a presentation by well-known pain specialist and international speaker Margo McCaffery, RN, MS, Consultant in the Nursing Care of Patients with Pain, at the 1999 ONS Convention. It is also a concept nurses should live by since Ms. McCaffery believes that nurses must assume the primary responsibility for not only pain management, but also for patient education on pain and its consequences.
Nurses spend more time with patients than any member of the healthcare team.
Nurses can teach patients how to respond to questions about pain and to identify what level of pain will allow them to participate best in their recovery. As primary pain managers, nurses at the bedside must be educated and empowered to titrate doses and intervals between doses of opioids. Achieving excellence in pain control in a climate of change. Material in this section is intended for use by medical professionals only. Please click here for legal restrictions and terms of use applicable to this site.