Evaluating an educational approach to improve pain assessment in hospitalized patients.

Pain assessment is a multifaceted process. A common assumption is that all nurses have the same baseline knowledge about pain, a potentially erroneous assumption that influences clinical practice. Nurses have varied experiences in education and pain management. This article describes a research project conducted by the hospital's clinical nurse specialist group to evaluate the effects of a nursing education program on pain assessment and pain management of hospitalized patients in an 841-bed academic medical center.