Pain management practices and perceived barriers among nurses working in National Orthopedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos

Abstract

Inadequate pain management practices during patient hospitalization can increase the vulnerability to severe and persistent pain leading to chronic pain which affects patients’ activities of daily living. Nurses are expected to achieve adequate pain management and relief of patient’s pain conditions. This study was conducted in March 2022 to assess pain management practices among nurses. This study was a quantitative, cross-sectional survey design. The target population was N=342 registered nurses. The sample size was determined and total enumeration sampling technique was used to select all nurses practicing in the selected hospital in Lagos, Nigeria. Adapted questionnaire with validity and reliability established was used to collect data which were collated and analyzed with SPSS version 26. Hypotheses were tested using Chi-square at 95% CI and 0.05 significant levels. The result shows that majority of the respondents were in age group 41-50 years (40.1%) and females (90.4%). More than half of the respondents (60.5%) had bachelor degree as their educational qualification. Seventy-six percent (76%) of the respondents indicated system-related barriers were responsible for inadequate and low patient pain interventions practices. There was a significant association between system-related barriers and nurses’ interventions for managing patient pain at p=0.001. Furthermore, the result shows that age, gender, education level, and years of experience were significantly associated with nurses’ interventions for managing pain of patients at p< 0.05.In conclusion, system-related barriers affected nurses’ pain management practice. It is recommended that stakeholders resolve the system-related barriers and monitor individual nurse’s practice on pain management procedure.