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Nurses' knowledge of pain
1Faculty of Health and Social Care, The University of Hull, Hull, UK. b.d.wilson@hull.ac.uk
Journal of Clinical Nursing
|May 24, 2007
Summary
Postregistration education enhances nurses' pain knowledge, but clinical experience alone does not. The working environment significantly impacts knowledge application, potentially increasing patient pain despite educational efforts.
Area of Science:
- Nursing Education
- Pain Management Science
Background:
- Inadequate pain knowledge, not just bias, contributes to pain management deficits.
- A pain knowledge survey assessed nurses' understanding of pain management principles.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if postregistration education and clinical experience influence nurses' knowledge of pain.
- To investigate the relationship between educational background, experience, and pain knowledge in nurses.
Main Methods:
- A survey of 72 nurses (35 specialist, 37 general) using a 20-item true/false pain knowledge questionnaire.
- Data analysis using SPSS to compare knowledge scores between specialist and general nurses and correlate with experience.
Main Results:
- Specialist nurses demonstrated a more comprehensive pain knowledge base than general nurses.
- Nurses' knowledge scores were not significantly related to their years of clinical experience.
Conclusions:
- Educational programs improve nurses' pain knowledge, but the clinical environment influences its application.
- Factors like reduced self-efficacy and control in the clinical setting may hinder knowledge translation into practice, potentially increasing patient pain.
- Clinical supervision can enhance self-awareness, but autonomy is crucial for practice change; lack of it may explain the gap between knowledge and practice.
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