Managing Acute Pain in Critically Ill Non-communicative Palliative Care Patients

The PAIN Algorithm and analgesic order sets to be used by nurses to assess and reassess pain and opioid-related side effects will include orders for: 1) managing pain based on MOPAT Behavioral Dimension cut scores, 2) pre-medication before painful procedures, 3) titration of drugs, and 4) managing major opioid side effects. The order sets will start with small doses of opioids that will be titrated upwards for peak analgesic effect and allow for adjustment for patient characteristics and type of pain while simultaneously monitoring for and treating side effects.