Using the trauma patient experience and evaluation of hospital discharge practices to inform practice change: A mixed methods study

Aims and objectives: To explore the pain management experiences of recently discharged adult trauma patients and the discharge practices of the treating hospital. Background: Adult trauma patients are not always able to manage their pain effectively and as a result often experience intense and enduring injury pain at home. They describe their pain experience as unique and debilitating, and report feeling uninformed at hospital discharge. There is a need to understand what is fundamentally required for this population at hospital discharge, to facilitate competent pain management and promote best possible outcomes. Design: A mixed methods convergent study design. Methods: The quantitative results (incidence, intensity and impact of injury pain and the barriers to effective pain management) were merged with the qualitative results (patient experiences and beliefs) to produce greater understanding about the reasons behind the pain management practices of participants. Results: Integration of the quantitative and qualitative data produced four new themes. These themes demonstrate that recently discharged adult trauma patients do not have the knowledge or experience to understand or manage their injury pain effectively at home. Inadequate information and education by clinicians, at hospital discharge, contribute to this insufficiency. Conclusions: Clinicians need to understand the trauma patient pain experience to appreciate the importance of their discharge practices. Increased understanding and implementation of evidence-informed discharge processes would improve current discharge practices and ultimately support and improve the trauma patient's injury pain management practices at home. Relevance to clinical practice: By understanding the patient perspective in the pain management of injuries, clinicians are better able to appreciate what hospital discharge practices and information are genuinely required by the trauma patient to manage their pain effectively at home, potentially preventing the long-term consequences of injury pain.