Professional Education & Institutional Change

Materials for Download and Purchase

Our Resource Center was established in 1993 and focuses on materials supporting institutional change. Learn about professional, patient, and public education materials we have available. Items are available in printed, PDF, video/DVD, and CD ROM formats

Institutional Change Programs

Journal of Pain and Symptoms In 2001-2003, the ASPI worked with 10 State Pain Initiatives (SPIs) to implement programs to promote positive changes in pain management practices at an institutional level. Each Initiative recruited 15-25 long term care facilities, home health agencies, or community hospitals. The programs required administrative commitment from the participating health care facilities, assessment of the structures in place to support pain assessment and management, the formation and education of a pain quality improvement team, the development of a quality improvement plan and assessment of the impact of quality improvement activities on system structures and patients’ pain experiences. At the end of the programs, there was a significant increase in the presence of structural elements that are critical to effective pain management, and a significant decrease in the percentage of patients who reported moderate to severe pain and in the percentage that reported pain in the previous 24 hours. The largest changes occurred in long-term care facilities. A grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation supported the programs in Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, North Carolina, New Mexico and Virginia. The Project on Death in America supported the programs in Arizona and Iowa. The American Cancer Society New England division supported the programs in Massachusetts and Vermont.

Click here for more details about the program and to review its agendas, recruitment materials and data collection tools.

This manuscript, published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management 2006;31:248--261, describes the results of seven of the programs.

Institutionalizing Effective Pain Management Practices: Practice Change Programs to Improve the Quality of Pain Management in Small Health Care Organizations

Posters presented at APS (2002) and IASP (2003)

Cancer Pain Guideline Available

Guideline for the Management of Cancer Pain in Adults and Children, is available from the American Pain Society. The clinical practice guideline was released in 2005 and revises the 1994 AHCPR cancer pain guideline to reflect the progress in the last decade of the understanding of pain management. Click here for information on how to order the guideline.

American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics

Within this site you will find information about their two nationally acclaimed peer reviewed journals, The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics and The American Journal of Law & Medicine. You will be able to search for information from the hundreds of articles that have been published. The site also offer access to research projects on pain under treatment, which have been funded by the Mayday Fund, as well as The Connecticut Statewide Pain Management Study supported by the Donaghue Medical Research Foundation. ASLME has also developed a News section which offers timely information on Recent Developments in Law, Medicine & Ethics.

Partnership for Prescription Assistance

Partnership for Prescription Assistances brings together America’s pharmaceutical companies, doctors, patient advocacy organizations and community groups to help qualifying patients who lack prescription coverage get the medicines they need through the public or private program that’s right for them. Many will get them free or nearly free. Its mission is to increase awareness of patient assistance programs and boost enrollment of those who are eligible. Through this site, Partnership for Prescription Assistance offers a single point of access to more than 475 public and private patient assistance programs, including more than 180 programs offered by pharmaceutical companies.

Evidence-based Guidelines

The National Guideline Clearinghouse™ (NGC™), a public resource for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines . NGC is an initiative of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Myths About Controlling Pain

Information on pain and the treatment of pain can be confusing, frightening and sometimes inaccurate. The Mayday Fund has asked key expert in the field of pain management to clear up the confusion, and provide answers to some myths about the treatment of pain.

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Contact Us: University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health Rm 4720 1300 University Ave Madison, WI 53706 Phone: (608) 265-4013 Fax: (608) 265-4014 aspi@mailplus.wisc.edu