Nurses' Advocacy of Clinical Pain Management in Hospitals: A Qualitative Study

In hospitals, efficient pain care given by nurses is warrented because pain prevalence in the previous 24 hours has been reported to be high. This study aims to clarify nurse's experiences with pain management as a specific responsibility added to their regular clinical duties. In addition, this study aims to elucidate these nurses' attitudes about sharing their pain knowledge with their colleagues.

This study includes semi-structured interviews of 17 registered staff nurses at the University Hospital, Linköping Sweden. The interviews were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis.

A main thematic category emerged: Selected nurses experience shortcomings and obstacles in clinical pain management and are willing to improve their knowledge and share it with their colleagues. This main category was based on the following four sub-categories: a valued but unclear assignment; the presence of facilitators and obstacles; in need of support and collaboration; and a deficit of own knowledge and future teaching of colleagues.

Overall, the nurses maintained a constructive attitude about their responsibilities to teach colleagues about pain management in spite the difficulties they experienced fulfilling all their responsibilities. Nurses who have the added responsibility to teach their colleagues pain management need specialized education in pain management and pedagogic skills for teaching clinical pain management. Moreover, these nurses need to be given the time, support, and collaborative opportunities to develop their knowledge. A nursing model that provides nurses trained in pain management education should be developed and evaluated.