TEXAS MEDICAL ASSOCIATION HOUSE OF DELEGATES
Resolution 304 (A-06)
Subject: JCAHO Pain Standard
Introduced by: Bexar County Medical Society
Referred to: Reference Committee on Science and Education
Whereas, The prescription of analgesics is the responsibility of physicians who must act in accordance with their own best judgment; and
Whereas, The prescription of analgesics to achieve a certain patient-defined, subjective score may be contrary to good medical practice and the patient's best interest; and
Whereas, Pain is a symptom, not an objectively quantifiable sign, much less a "vital sign" comparable to blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and respiration; and
Whereas, The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) "pain standard" requires physicians and nurses to fill out detailed paperwork assessments of every pain source on every shift, placing each on a subjective scale of 1 to 10; mandates acknowledgement in the records and additional paperwork by the physician; and diverts personnel time to massive paperwork requirements at a time of an unprecedented nursing shortage; and
Whereas, Physicians have the freedom to use on an individual basis any type of JCAHO pain standard or other pain standard in the medical records of his or her patients in a hospital or in the physician's private practice records; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Texas Medical Association work on a state level with other organizations, such as the Texas Hospital Association, to rescind in Texas the JCAHO pain standard and any other required pain standard documentation; and be it further
RESOLVED, That TMA submit a similar resolution to the American Medical Association House of Delegates opposing the pain standard and directing AMA to work on a national level to withdraw the mandated JCAHO pain standard and any other mandated pain standard documentation in hospital records or physicians' offices.
Relevant AMA Policy
(same as listed for Resolution 302 in this handbook)
TMA House of Delegates: TexMed 2006