Biography of Principal

Cathy Schutt, APRN-BC, CHPN, RN-BC, is founder and president of Pain Resources Network. She is an advanced nurse practitioner with clinical specialties in both pain and palliative care, and she has been a certified hospice trainer since 1997. She is also certified with the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) as an RN-BC in pain management.

With more than 20 years of experience in training and managing clinical and occupational health staff in the development and delivery of integrated healthcare systems, Cathy has a thorough working knowledge of operations in both acute and non-acute care settings. She has created and implemented clinical competency programs in pain management and palliative care for major Boston teaching hospitals, long-term care facilities, hospices and home care organizations throughout the Northeast. She has also lectured on pain and symptom management nationally and consulted with nursing and interdisciplinary staff members on both pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions.

Cathy has consulted, developed programs with, or written materials for the National Cancer Institute; the American Cancer Society; Raytheon Company; and the Associated Industries of Massachusetts. She has published articles with the American Occupational Health Nursing Journal, the American Cancer Society Publications and Programs, and Nutrition Research.

Most recently, Cathy authored INTEGRATING JOINT COMMISSION PAIN STANDARDS: Strategies and Tools for Non-Acute Settings." She specifically designed this comprehensive, ready-to-use manual and tool kit to help non-acute care providers implement system-wide pain management protocols and procedures without placing undue demands on already overextended administrative and clinical staff. As a nurse educator herself, Cathy has first-hand knowledge of the challenges of integrating interdisciplinary programs that achieve compliance with complex accreditation standards. In the development of her handbook and tool kit, she has applied this practical experience to meet the needs of any person on an organization’s pain management team.

Cathy’s ultimate goal for Pain Resources Network is to bring compassionate, service-based, cost-effective pain and palliative care to people throughout the world. A percentage of all proceeds will go toward the continuous quality improvement of patient care provided by health organizations serving the international community.