New & Noteworthy

November 2017

Revised Pain Management Standards

The Joint Commission

As part of a national effort to address the opioid crisis, The Joint Commission (TJC) is implementing new and revised pain assessment and management standards, effective January 1, 2018. The standards are applicable to all TJC-accredited hospitals. To help hospitals better understand and comply with the pain standards, TJC has released the R3 Report, which provides in-depth rationale, references, and evidence that TJC employed in the development of the new and revised requirements. The pain standards require hospitals to identify pain assessment and pain management as a priority; actively involve medical staff in leadership roles in organization performance improvement activities to improve care, treatment, and services; assess and manage patients’ pain and minimize the risks associated with treatment; and collect, compile, and analyze data to monitor performance. The R3 Report is the first to introduce the publication’s new format, which includes more robust and easy-to-use information, as well as a rationale statement for each Element of Performance (EP).

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