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Nominal group technique: A brainstorming tool for identifying areas to improve pain management in hospitalized patients
Author(s) -
Peña Adolfo,
Estrada Carlos A.,
Soniat Debbie,
Taylor Benjamin,
Burton Michael
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of hospital medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.128
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1553-5606
pISSN - 1553-5592
DOI - 10.1002/jhm.1900
Subject(s) - medicine , brainstorming , context (archaeology) , nominal group technique , quality management , psychological intervention , ranking (information retrieval) , hospital medicine , unit (ring theory) , health care , standardization , medline , nominal group , nursing , family medicine , management system , knowledge management , operations management , psychology , philosophy , artificial intelligence , law , economic growth , linguistics , computer science , biology , paleontology , machine learning , political science , mathematics education , economics
Abstract BACKGROUND: Pain management in hospitalized patients remains a priority area for improvement; effective strategies for consensus development are needed to prioritize interventions. OBJECTIVE: To identify challenges, barriers, and perspectives of healthcare providers in managing pain among hospitalized patients. DESIGN: Qualitative and quantitative group consensus using a brainstorming technique for quality improvement—the nominal group technique (NGT). SETTING: One medical, 1 medical‐surgical, and 1 surgical hospital unit at a large academic medical center. PARTICIPANTS: Nurses, resident physicians, patient care technicians, and unit clerks. MEASUREMENTS: Responses and ranking to the NGT question: “What causes uncontrolled pain in your unit?” RESULTS: Twenty‐seven health workers generated a total of 94 ideas. The ideas perceived contributing to a suboptimal pain control were grouped as system factors (timeliness, n = 18 ideas; communication, n = 11; pain assessment, n = 8), human factors (knowledge and experience, n = 16; provider bias, n = 8; patient factors, n = 19), and interface of system and human factors (standardization, n = 14). Knowledge, timeliness, provider bias, and patient factors were the top ranked themes. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge and timeliness are considered main priorities to improve pain control. NGT is an efficient tool for identifying general and context‐specific priority areas for quality improvement; teams of healthcare providers should consider using NGT to address their own challenges and barriers. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2012; © 2011 Society of Hospital Medicine