May, 1999

Innovations in Community Education: Missoula Demonstration Project: The Quality of Life's End

Community education around pain management (PM) was one of the objectives of Linda Torma and her colleagues on the task force for the Missoula Demonstration Project (MDP) Pain as the 5th Vital Sign Task Force. Survey information from the community indicated that 40% of respondents believed they should wait until pain was severe before taking medication. The task force engaged in a program to change those beliefs and share their knowledge about effective pain management with members of the community. They found their audiences through senior centers, malls, and various group and organizational meetings.

One of the first things the nurses learned in trying to reach people was that they needed to listen to what each group wanted and expected from "guests". They learned, for example, that some of the groups had been "turned off" by presentation on "how to's", such as how to complete a living will. What they were interested in was learning something that they could use help others.

This led to a creative teaching-learning strategy that emphasized how the audience could teach others how to manage their pain. Using their own experiences with pain as examples, the nurses described how and when it would be helpful to speak a common language with providers to express pain. Audiences responded most positively to this and chimed in with examples. Checkbook size pain scales with faces (see example below) were distributed during each encounter to reinforce the learning and provide a "prop" participants could use to teach others.

"It was a win-win situation" say Linda Torma, Project Director. The nurses learned about what the community members wanted, gained new perspectives on teaching-learning, and were validated by participants saying things like "these nurses know what they are talking about". Participants learned how to communicate with providers, how to be an active participants in their own PM, what to expect from providers, and they could share the information with others!

You can find the web for the Missoula Demonstration Project: The Quality of Life's End at: http://www.missoulademonstration.org and The Pain Task Force at: http://www.missoulademonstration.org/fifth_vital_sign_tf.htm

Last Updated: April 18, 2000