Barriers and Enablers to Pain Management in Emergency Department

Mohammad Abu Asal ,Muhammad W Darawad

doi:10.7176/jhmn/58-06

Abstract

This paper is just a sample template for the prospective authors of IISTE Over the decades, Background: Despite the growing interest in pain management (PM) around the world, under treatment of pain is still a major problem faced by the healthcare professionals in emergency departments (EDs). Identifying barriers and enablers of PM among nurses and physicians is important to overcome factors that hinder effective PM. Aim: To explore the barriers and enablers of PM among nurses and physicians working in the Jordanian EDs. Design: Descriptive cross-sectional design, using self-reported questionnaire. Result: Nursing participants reported moderate mean score of barriers (M6.68), while physicians reported (6.65). On the hand, nurses’ participants reported a mean of enablers (6.68), while physicians reported (6.65).There was no significant difference in the barriers and enablers of PM between nurses and physicians. However, among all enablers of PM, "following a protocol for pain assessment" and "treating pain as the fifth vital sign" contribute to optimal PM care?" differed between nurses and physicians. The least frequently reported barrier of PM for nurses and physicians was "Lack of intravenous access", which was reported by 66 nurses (39.1%) and 25 physicians (35.2%). The least frequently reported enabler of PM for both physicians and nurses was "Do you have a PM Champion in your area?" No significant correlation between the demographic characteristics of nurses and physicians and the total scores of enablers and barriers of PM was found. Conclusion: There is a need to adopt an intervention to overcome barriers of PM by training sessions and monitor side effects of medication, as well as enhance the enablers of PM by using of posters and focus on pain policies and protocols. Keywords: Pain Management; Enablers; Barriers; Nurses; Physicians; Emergency Departments. DOI : 10.7176/JHMN/58-06

Highlights

Pain is one of the most common symptoms that make patients visit emergency department (ED) (Alavi, Aboutalebi, & Sadat, 2016; Ferrell, Coyle, & Paice, 2015)
This study explored the barriers and enablers of pain management (PM) in EDs among nurses and physicians working in Jordanian www.iiste.org hospitals, where both reported moderate levels
The current study revealed that the reported barriers and enablers of PM did not have significant differences in regard to the sample characteristics, which was emphasized for both nurses and physicians

Summary

Introduction

ED is the most to continuously face the challenge of treating pain because it has a complex and dynamic environment with patients who have various conditions (Morris, Boyle, Beniuk, & Robinson, 2012). Under-treatment of pain is a worldwide serious problem in different hospitals settings (Darawad, Alhussami, Saleh, & Al-sutari, 2012) and especially in EDs (Belayachi et al, 2014), which might cause negative physical, psychological, and social consequences for patients and their families including increasing morbidity and mortality rates (El-Aqoul, Obaid, Yacoub, Al-Najar, Ramadan, & Darawad, 2018; Friesgaard, Paltved, & Nikolajsen, 2017). Under-treatment of pain may cause problems to patients such as decreased appetite, decreased physical activity, poor social communication, sleep disorders, and reduction in quality of life (Pretorius, Searle, & Marshall, 2015)

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