Knowledge and Attitudes of Nurses towards Postoperative Pain Management in Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Introduction: Effective management of postoperative pain can lead to comfort, better mobility, improved recovery and a short stay in the hospital while untreated pain has harmful impacts on the patients as hopelessness, hinder their response to treatment, and negatively affect their quality of life. Inadequate knowledge and undesirable attitudes toward postoperative pain management were reported as one of the major difficulties to implement effective pain management among nurses. Objective: The main purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitudes of nurses towards postoperative pain management working at Hawassa University comprehensive specialized hospital. Methods: Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted among two hundred three nurses working at the surgical, gynecology, obstetric wards, ophthalmic unit and operation theater from April 1-30, 2019. Data were collected through standardized worldwide accepted “Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain” (KASRP) tool it contains 37 items questionnaire of two domains: knowledge and attitude towards pain management. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. A chi-square test was done and significantly associated factors were identified. Result: One hundred and eighty-seven questionnaires were returned giving a response rate (92.1%). The mean score of correct answers was (22.5%) with a minimum and maximum score of (18.2%) and (75.4%) respectively. After categorizing the level of knowledge and attitude, (82.2 %) of nurses possessed very low knowledge and negative attitude towards postoperative pain management. Prior training on pain management (X2 = 14.935, P=0.001) and reading of medical books or journals about pain (X2 = 5.019, P=0.025) were significantly associated with knowledge and attitude of nurses towards post-operative pain management. Conclusion: Nurses had a very low level of knowledge and a negative attitude towards post-operative pain management. The hospital provides in-service training and avail reading medical books to improve nurse’s knowledge and attitude towards post-operative pain management. The federal ministry of Health of Ethiopia enriches the pain content of the nursing curriculum.