Improving Documentation of Pain Management at MedStar Washington Cancer Institute.

Purpose: Appropriate cancer pain documentation is one of the quality measures in the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI). MedStar Washington Cancer Institute has participated in QOPI since 2008, and documenting a plan of care for moderate to severe pain (which was defined as a pain score of ≥ 4 on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the worst) was identified as an area for improvement.

Methods: We undertook a structured approach to improve documentation of the plan of care for moderate/severe pain with support from ASCO's Quality Training Program.