Pain management is one example of where the evidence is available (through research and guidelines for best practice), but nurses are still lacking knowledge about best practice around pain.  Nurses have varying degrees of training around pain in their nursing school courses, and within organizational orientation and annual competency programs.  There is evidence that shows that education about pain management does not result in changes with nurses’ behavior (Camp-Sorrell and O’Sullivan, 1991). 

            Many healthcare organizations are trying a different approach in educating their nurses about pain management.  They are using pain resource nurses with expertise around pain management to help educate other nurses about pain, to improve pain management and patient outcomes.  This role uses a combination of communication techniques including educator, change champion, opinion leader, and train-the-trainer approaches.

            While this role has potential to be a successful implementation strategy, until recently, there have been minimal studies to test the effectiveness of this implementation strategy.  This presentation will provide a review of the literature that is available, specifically addressing the effectiveness of pain resource nurses as an evidence-based practice implementation strategy.