A comparison of educational methods to enhance nursing performance in pain assessment.

The purpose of this study was to identify an effective method of teaching nurses to assess and document pain severity using a numerical rating scale prior to narcotic administration. Nurses received a combination of educational methods. Although overall nurse performance using the pain scale was low, nurses receiving video were significantly more likely to use the scale, a finding that remained significant after controlling for nurses' education and years of experience, and for patient age and acuity.