Evaluation of knowledge, attitude, and practices of nurses regarding pain management in tertiary care hospitals of Pune, India

Abstract

Aim: Nurses are the point of contact for patients admitted in hospital wards. Nurse's deal with all complaints of the patients, most common being pain. Hospitalised patients can suffer from pain due to various causes like post-operative, infection, malignancy, trauma, iatrogenic causes like i.v. cannulation, catheters etc. Proper management of pain in such patients improves patient experience and doctor-patient relationship. The knowledge and attitude of nurses regarding pain management affects the overall patient experience in hospital. We conducted a survey among nurses of tertiary care hospital (including government and private hospitals) in Pune regarding their knowledge, attitude and practices in pain management. Our questionnaire consisted of 20 questions relating to knowledge, attitude and practices of nurses in pain management. Material and Method: A survey was conducted among 248 nurses of tertiary care hospital (including government and private hospitals) in Pune regarding their knowledge (6 questions), attitude (5 questions) and practices (7 questions) in pain management using a questionnaire. Statistical Analysis: Questionnaire comprised all categorical answers hence descriptive statistics (percentage values) of all the individual categories was calculated. Results: Our survey revealed deficiency in nowledge, attitude and practices of nurses regarding basics of pain management, especially cancer pain and opioid use. Conclusion: This study has brought to light the deficiency in nursing curriculum or training regarding basics of pain management specifically cancer pain and opioid use.