Improving pain management in Canadian long-term care homes

Effective pain management for people who are dying in long term care homes is an area of growing concern. In this chapter, a description of an Action-Based Model to Improve Pain Management in LTC (Kaasalainen et al. 2010) is discussed along with its development and validation. Interventions or actions that were guided by this model are presented and an evaluation of them highlighted. By using a PAR approach, the Action Based Model to Improve Pain Management in Long Term Care offers suggestions to focus on to address barriers at multiple levels within the health care system. Hopefully, addressing these barriers within a mutlifacted approach will lead to capacity development within the LTC sector and improved resident outcomes, particularly related to pain management.