Differences between nurse and patient assessments on postoperative pain management in two hospitals

Differences between patient and professional assessments on pain and pain management have been reported, but no further analysis has described the statistical problems of pseudocorrelation concerning the nature of these differences.

The aim of the present study was: (1) to investigate the differences between nurse and patient assessments of postoperative pain management in two hospitals, and (2) to discuss the nature and scope of these differences.

The subjects were 209 inpatients and 63 nurses from a central county hospital and 77 inpatients and 34 nurses from a university hospital. The 'Strategic and Clinical Quality Indicators in Postoperative Pain Management' questionnaire was used, comprising 14 items in four sub-scales (communication, action, trust and environment) and two questions concerning the worst pain experienced during the past 24 hours and general satisfaction.

Except for the trust sub-scale in one hospital, the correlations between patient and nurse ratings concerning all assessments were significant in both hospitals (r = 0.22-0.59). Both groups of patients had significantly higher (better) scores than judged by the nurses on the environment sub-scale and general satisfaction. In contrast, nurses from both hospitals tended to significantly underestimate patients' worst pain during the past 24 hours. Other differences between patient and nurse assessments were either non-significant or inconsistent between hospitals. Using so-called Oldham plots nurses tended to underestimate severe pain more often than mild pain, as judged by the patients, but this association was weak and statistically significant in one hospital only.

Although the effects of pseudocorrelation are minimized by using Oldham plots, they are not cancelled. This issue is discussed, and we conclude that this study does not support the notion that the nurses tend to underestimate severe pain more often than mild pain.