Prior conditions influencing nurses' decisions to adopt evidence-based postoperative pain assessment practices

Over the past 30 years, postoperative pain relief has been shown to be inadequate. To provide optimal postoperative pain relief, it is imperative for nurses to use evidence-based postoperative pain assessment practices. This correlational descriptive study was conducted to identify factors, termed prior conditions, that influenced nurses' decisions to adopt three evidence-based postoperative pain assessment practices. A convenience sample of nurses who cared for adult postoperative patients in two Midwestern hospitals were surveyed, and 443 (46.9%) nurses responded. The previous practice and innovativeness of nurses were supportive of adoption of the three practices. Nurses felt that patients received adequate pain relief, which is unsupportive of adoption of the three practices because there is no impetus to change. Nurses who perceived the prior conditions as being supportive of adoption of pain management practices used multiple sources to identify solutions to clinical practice problems, and those who read professional nursing journals were more likely to have adopted the three practices and were more innovative. The number of sources used to identify solutions to clinical practice problems, previous practices, and innovativeness were predictive of nurses' adoption of the three evidence-based postoperative pain assessment practices. Nurses need to be encouraged to use multiple sources, including professional nursing journals, to identify solutions to clinical practice problems. Innovative nurses may be considered to be opinion leaders and need to be identified to promote the adoption of evidence-based postoperative pain assessment practices. Further exploration of the large unexplained variance in adoption of evidence-based postoperative pain assessment practices is needed.