Document Type

DNP Project

Publication Date

5-2022

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Faculty Advisor

Sylvie Rosenbloom, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, CDCES, CME

Practice Mentor

Joan Lane, MPH federally qualified health center in the Northeast

Abstract

Background: Chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) is a major public health issue that affects over 100 million Americans. From January 2019 to September 2021, the number patients seen at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) was 41, 974 of these 40.12% were Hispanic. Of the total patient population at this FQHC, 904 patients had preexisting opioids prescriptions for CNCP. The Hispanic population represents 41.15% of the preexisting prescriptions. Nonopioid alternatives to manage CNCP have been shown to decrease pain and improve functioning similarly to opioids.

Purpose: To implement a CNCP SMP at a FQHC in the Northeast. This quality improvement (QI) project aimed to educate Hispanic patients about non-opioid alternatives and assess their quality of life (QoL) and pain levels.

Setting and Methods: Due to COVID-19, participants attended the SMP via zoom. Participants included Hispanic patients who experience CNCP and were prescribed opioids. The Defense and Veterans Pain Rating Scale (DVPRS) was used to assess pain prior to implementing the project. A post-event satisfaction survey was developed by the DNP project leader where participants were asked four questions to gather qualitative data.

Results: Six patients participated in the SMP with one patient attending all sessions. The pre-implementation DVPRS pain rating mean score for interference with usual activity was 7.63 and the last post-implementation assessment mean was 6.69. All participants agreed they felt supported knowing they were not alone experiencing CNCP.

Conclusion: Implementation a CNCP SMP at a FQHC in the Northeast benefitted patients thus improving their QoL and pain management skills.

Comments

A DNP project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Nursing Practice, Sacred Heart University Davis & Henley College of Nursing.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.


Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.