Abstract
BackgroundOne helpful strategy adopted for pain management in non-verbal, intubated patients is the use of a proper pain assessment scale. The purpose of the present study is to achieve a better and deeper understanding of the existing nurses’ challenges in using pain assessment scales among patients unable to communicate.MethodsThis qualitative study was conducted using content analysis. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants and continued until data saturation. The participants included 20 nurses working in intensive care units. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and analysis was done using an inductive approach.ResultsFour categories and ten sub-categories were extracted from the experiences of the nurses working in the intensive care units in terms of nursing challenges in using non-verbal pain assessment scales. The four categories included “forgotten priority”, “organizational barriers”, “attitudinal barriers”, and “barriers to knowledge”.ConclusionsThe findings of the present study have shown that various factors might influence on the use of non-verbal pain assessment scales in patients unable to communicate. Identifying these challenges for nurses can help take effective steps such as empowering nurses in the use of non-verbal pain assessment scales, relieving pain, and improving the quality of care services.
Highlights
One helpful strategy adopted for pain management in non-verbal, intubated patients is the use of a proper pain assessment scale
Despite advances in theories related to pain control [8,9,10,11], pain is still a major problem in critically ill patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU) and 40–77.4% of ICU patients complain about the experience of pain [12, 13]
The study sample consisted of 20 ICU nurses
Summary
One helpful strategy adopted for pain management in non-verbal, intubated patients is the use of a proper pain assessment scale. Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage [1] It is a common phenomenon and a major stressor in intubated patients [2,3,4]. Despite advances in theories related to pain control [8,9,10,11], pain is still a major problem in critically ill patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU) and 40–77.4% of ICU patients complain about the experience of pain [12, 13] Since these patients may suffer from numerous neurological, physiological, and communicative disabilities arising from a variety of reasons including dependence on a mechanical ventilator (MV) and concurrent use of sedatives, they. If patient doesn’t have enough ability to provide verbal self-report of pain (e.g. ICU patients), it is recommended to use other available methods for pain management [14]
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