Students' and faculty members' knowledge and attitudes regarding pain management: a descriptive survey

Many basic nursing programs spend little time educating students about pain management. Between the years of 2000 and 2002, a baccalaureate nursing program at a university in central Virginia surveyed sophomore, junior, and senior nursing students using McCaffery's Pain Knowledge and Attitude Survey at the beginning and end of each academic semester. During the same time period, faculty also completed the survey and answered open-ended questions pertaining to the inclusion of pain management in course content. The purposes of this study were to determine the baseline knowledge and attitudes of nursing students and faculty about the science of pain management and to evaluate the content of pain management material and the extent to which it is integrated into the curriculum.