Nurses’ Knowledge, Attitudes and Perceived Barriers towards Pain Management among Post-Operative Patients

Abstract

Nurses should have a strong understanding and a positive attitude toward post-operative pain to estimatepatients' conditions and provide personalized care to each patient for minimizing distress and improve life satisfaction.So, study aim was to assess nurses’ knowledge, attitudes and perceived barriers towards pain management among postoperative patients. Design, A descriptive cross-sectional design was conducted in surgical wards in Mansoura UniversityHospitals and Gastrointestinal surgical center. Sample, consisted of all available nurses (150 Nurse) who were caring ofpatients post operatively in surgical words in previously mentioned setting. Tool, A structured self-administeredquestionnaire with four parts assessing knowledge, behavior, and perceived barriers to post-operative pain managementwas used to collect data. Results, found that the majority of nurses (94%) have a good attitude toward post-operativepain management and that (58.7%) of the nurses in the study have appropriate knowledge on this field. It also showedthat system-related barriers were the most widely recognized obstacles to post-operative pain assessment andmanagement (69.96%), whereas patient-related barriers were seen to be less of barriers (65.83%). This study illustratedthat there was a significant correlation between nurses’ knowledge and attitude regarding post operative painmanagement (p.000). Conclusion, concluded that study participants have significantly inadequate knowledge as well aspositive attitudes concerning the assessment and management of post operative pain. It was also concluded that nursesencounter several barriers while attempting to give post-operative patients with the best pain assessment andmanagement.