Melhoria de um processo: efeitos de uma intervenção para redução do tempo de espera do paciente com dor em um Centro Avançado de Oncologia - CACON

Abstract

Pain is defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience, associated or related to actual or potential tissue damage. It has currently been considered a fifth vital sign, and is present in more than 90% of cancer patients. In this way, the question is asked about the waiting time for medication for patients with pain, in a High Complexity Oncology Center – CACON, with the of proposing a process to improve the waiting time for medication Faced with this issue, it is important to identify the response time to pain treatment and propose improvement actions if necessary. This is an analytical and descriptive study, carried out from the study of anonymized data, originating from oncology, clinical and surgical inpatient units, and its main objective was to propose an improvement process focusing on patients with pain, reducing the waiting time to receive the medication. The research included an observational sample, in five sectors, using a manual spreadsheet, to progressively evaluate the impact of interventions on response time to pain treatment. In the first stage, it was found that the average waiting time varied between 30 and 50 minutes. Then, in the second stage, the reorganization of medical prescriptions resulted in a reduction to 25 minutes when the medication was previously prescribed. Finally, in the third stage, the "pain relief box" was implemented, a resource with analgesic medications and possible side effects, which reduced waiting time to approximately 10 minutes. The improvement process followed the DMAIC methodology (Define, Map, Analyze, Intervene and Control), promoting a systematic and efficient approach to reducing waiting time. Therefore, it is concluded that, with the organization and knowledge of pain management processes, it is possible to offer fast, quality and safe assistance to cancer patients.