The Third Year Anesthesiology Residents’ Knowledge Regarding Pediatric Postoperative Pain Management

Abstract

Background: There are six Anesthesiology training centers in Thailand that are approved to operate the training program. An evidence of residents’ knowledge about pediatric postoperative pain management is needed for improving the program. Objective: To assess the third year anesthesiology residents’ knowledge about pediatric postoperative pain management. Materials and Methods: The questionnaire was adapted from previous studies. The questionnaire has 35 questions consisted of 17 multiple choice questions and 18 true or false questions to cover 2 domains: 1) use of age-appropriate pediatric pain assessment (10 questions) and 2) pediatric pain treatment (25 questions). Minimal passing level of the questionnaire rated by three young anesthesiology staffs was 76.2%. All 62 participants were the 3rd year anesthesiology residents from 6 training centers. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics. Results: The response rate was 95.2%. Seventy-one percent of participants reported that they had learned about pediatric pain treatment. Of those, 55.9% rated their remaining knowledge at median level. The proportion of the correct score was 67.7% (mean 23.7 ± 2.9 SD) which was lower than the minimal passing level. The highest score was 29 and the lowest score was 16. For pain assessment domain; the mean proportion of correct score was 65% (range 90%-40%). For pain treatment domain; the mean proportion of correct score was 68.8% (range 88%-44%). Conclusion: Anesthesiology residents’ knowledge about pediatric postoperative pain management needs to be improved.