Areas of Knowledge Deficit and Misconceptions Regarding Pain among Jordanian Nurses

Nurses must be highly knowledgeable and skilled regarding pain and its management to ensure optimal pain relief. However, nurses worldwide were found to have knowledge deficits and poor attitudes toward pain. Thus identifying the major areas of knowledge deficit regarding pain and incorporating these areas in nursing undergraduate education and nursing continuing training could improve nurses' knowledge and attitude toward pain.

The purpose of this study was to assess Jordanian nurses' knowledge and attitude toward pain using the Nurses' Knowledge and Attitudes Survey (NKAS) and to identify the areas of deficit in nursing knowledge toward pain among Jordanian nurses.

Cross sectional descriptive study.

Four Jordanian hospitals (governmental, private, teaching and royal medical services).

Nurses working in intensive care units (ICUs), emergency department, and surgical, medical and oncology wards in.

This descriptive study used data from 417 nurses who completed the NKAS tool. The passing score for the NKAS survey was individually calculated for each nurse. Moreover, we examined each item to identify the percentage of correct answers for each of the 39 questions.

The percentage of correct response ranged from 18% to 92%. Only four nurses achieved an overall score of 80% or greater and none of them achieved a 100% correct response. We revealed extensive knowledge deficits among Jordanian nurses, particularly in pain assessment and its pharmacotherapeutics components. Moreover, we found that Jordanian nurses held many negative attitudes and misconceptions about pain.

Insufficient knowledge and attitudes among nurses toward pain is a worldwide problem. However, recognizing the areas of knowledge deficit and establishing educational interventions based on these deficits could improve nurses' knowledge and attitudes regarding pain and their clinical practice.