Burn nursing Delphi study: pain management

In 1989 a Delphi study was undertaken to identify the nursing priorities in burn research. The Delphi technique is a series of questionnaires used to reach consensus. Ninety-four nurses involved in burn care completed four rounds of questionnaires containing 101 research questions. This, the seventh and final report, concerns a significant area of burn research, which is pain management. Eleven (10%) of the 101 questions dealt with pain, whereas five were rated among the top 20 priority questions. As a category the questions concerning pain management had a mean score of 5.91 on a 0 to 7 Likert scale. The questions collectively were cited as having the most impact on the welfare of the patient with burns.