League of Friends funds new pain system at Musgrove Park Hospital

Colleagues in the acute pain team at Musgrove Park Hospital now have access to a
state-of-the-art computer system, meaning they can spend more clinical time with
patients and less on administrative tasks.

The new specialist-built system means the hospital’s acute pain nurses can input
patient’s assessments directly onto a laptop while in clinical areas, rather than the
previous way of taking written notes and then duplicating these notes onto a
computer system later in the day.

The acute pain team at Musgrove consists of two consultant anaesthetists and five
specialist nurses, who provide specialist advice and a daily ward round for patients in
hospital with post-operative pain, acute pain issues, such as fractured ribs and
pancreatitis, and they also review patients with chronic or difficult to manage pain.

These patients often require advanced techniques such as epidural, nerve catheters
and opiate infusions, as well as other strong medications to help reduce their pain.
While these techniques can be effective in reducing pain, there can be a risk of
adverse events, so patients are closely monitored and reviewed.

“Our previous database was out of date and required duplication in data entry,”
explained Wendy Cruickshank, lead nurse for the acute pain team and vascular
access team at Musgrove Park Hospital.

“With the new system, we can input our assessments into a laptop while on the
ward, print and place into the patients’; notes, saving time – meaning we can review
most patients promptly.

“The system also allows us to analyse trends in treatment effectiveness and patient
outcomes that can be used to improve service delivery, patient care and experience,
and also inform clinical research in acute pain management.”

Wendy and the hospital’s clinical lead for acute pain, Dr Edward Keevil, approached
the hospital League of Friends through its small grants funding and the ‘Friends very
kindly chose to spend £12,000 to purchase the system.

Dr Keevil added: “We are incredibly grateful to our League of Friends for their
generous support, especially as we know it will make a huge difference to the care
our nurses can provide to our patients.

“The number of patients referred into our acute pain service has doubled over the
last 10 years, so the additional time we have will be spent on direct patient care.

Thank you to the League of Friends for the financial
support which has made this project possible and successful.”

Clinton Rogers, President of the League of Friends at Musgrove Park Hospital,
added: “We were very impressed with the presentation about the new pain control
system and felt it fitted the brief of the League of Friends perfectly – supporting
projects that improve patient care with the latest technology.”