New evidence-based recommendations for pain prevention, assessment and management

TORONTO, Feb. 18, 2025 /CNW/ - A new edition of a Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario's (RNAO) best practice guideline (BPG) will provide guidance to nurses and other health professionals on how to prevent, assess and treat pain.  

The updated guideline, entitled Pain: Prevention, assessment and management (Fourth edition), is an evidence-based resource designed to enhance decision-making for nurses, interprofessional teams, educators, health-service organizations, academic institutions, patients and their families.  

"Pain is one of the top reasons why Canadians visit their primary care provider, so it's important that nurses and other health professionals have updated guidance to continue to provide people with high quality, evidence-based care to prevent or alleviate their suffering," says RNAO CEO Dr. Doris Grinspun. "Effectively preventing, assessing and managing different types of pain throughout a person's life improves health outcomes and decreases the number of times a person needs to access health care – which in turn benefits the whole system. RNAO is proud to release these up-to-date recommendations that will assist interprofessional teams locally and globally." 

The guideline will be officially unveiled at a webinar on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. The BPG's 18-member expert panel was co-chaired by: Dr. Céline Gélinas, professor of nursing at McGill University's Ingram School of Nursing and senior researcher at the Centre for Nursing Research and Lady Davis Institute, Jewish General Hospital; and Dr. Lindsay Jibb, assistant professor at the University of Toronto's Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, associate member at Institute of Medical Sciences, and a scientist with child health evaluative sciences at the SickKids Research Institute. The panel included registered nurses, nurse practitioners, registered practical nurses, researchers, policy experts, a physiotherapist and persons with lived experience.  

The guideline outlines good practice statements and recommendations related to:  

• initial and ongoing screening and assessment for pain 
• an integrative approach to pain prevention, assessment and management 
• a specialized interprofessional pain care team 
• interactive education for all health providers and for students entering health professions 

"Providing person-centered pain management is essential to all individuals living with acute or chronic pain. Some of these individuals may be unable to self-report their pain and are in need for an alternative voice," says Gélinas. "Nurses and the interprofessional team must work collaboratively and with family members to assess pain in these individuals and establish the best pain management plan." 

"Both acute and chronic pain remain a distressing problem for children and adolescents. Clear guidance on how to best prevent such pain and accurately assess it and expediently manage it when it does occur, is essential," says Jibb. "This guideline will empower health-care professionals and others with current and evidence-based knowledge related to pain in childhood to ultimately improve care outcomes for children and their families." 

The BPG is available for free download on RNAO's website. It replaces the previous version, Assessment and Management of Pain (Third edition), published in 2013.  

RNAO's Best Practice Guideline (BPG) Program is funded by Ontario's Ministry of Health. It was envisioned by CEO Dr. Doris Grinspun in 1998 and launched in 1999 to provide the best available evidence for patient care across all health sectors and settings, with more than 50 guidelines developed to date. The Best Practice Spotlight Organization^® (BPSO^®) program supports health service and academic institutions that have formally agreed to implement multiple RNAO BPGs over a three-year period, and evaluate their impact on patients, organizations and health system outcomes. Launched in 2003, the BPSO program now has more than 1,500 BPSOs in Ontario, Canada and internationally. 

The Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO) is the professional association representing registered nurses, nurse practitioners and nursing students in Ontario. Since 1925, RNAO has advocated for healthy public policy, promoted excellence in nursing practice, increased nurses' contribution to shaping the health system, and influenced decisions that affect nurses and the public we serve. For more information about RNAO, visit RNAO.ca or follow us on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. 

SOURCE Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario

For more information, please contact: Alicia Saunders, Communications Assistant, Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO), 1-800-268-7199 ext. 216, 416-907-7964, [e-mail]; Marion Zych, Director of Communications, Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO), 1-800-268-7199 ext. 209, 416-408-5605, 647-406-5605 (cell), [e-mail]