Pain Management Knowledge, Attitudes, and Performance of Nurses in Long-Term Care Hospitals

Cho, Hyeonju; Kwon, So Hi

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study investigated long-term care hospital nurses' knowledge and practice of pain management and their attitudes towards the job with an ultimate aim to provide fundamental information for development of a pain education program.
METHODS
A cross-sectional survey was carried out with 120 nurses from four long-term care hospitals. Nurses' knowledge of and attitudes towards pain management was measured using a tool developed by Watt-Watson. To examine their pain management practice, an instrument was developed based on the pain management guidelines used by the long-term care settings.
RESULTS
For pain management knowledge, the participants gave an average of 26.2 (±13.10) correct answers out of 40 questions. The most frequently missed question was one about subjectivity of pain, "Patients' physiological and behavioral reactions to pain hint at the presence and intensity of pain" (89.2%), and 56.7% of the nurses believed that increasing tolerance for a narcotic analgesic means addiction. Regarding attitudes towards and practice of pain management, 80.2% of the nurses used placebos to patients who complain about pain often.
CONCLUSION
This study revealed poor level of pain management knowledge of and attitude among long-term care hospital nurses. This might negatively affect their pain management practice. From the educational perspective, nurses should be provided with education on pain management education with emphasis on the nature of pain and misuse of placebo drugs.