A new way to assess pain in laboring women: replacing the rating scale with a "coping" algorithm.

In 2001, the Joint Commission introduced a compliance guideline designed to improve pain care for all patients. In response, most hospitals created a pain policy that was intended to be implemented for all hospital patients. This article describes how nurses in a busy labor and delivery unit created a pain management policy that met the Joint Commission's goals and also supported their desire to assist laboring women in the most appropriate way possible.