An interview study of nurses' assessment and priority of post surgical pain experience

Caring for patients in postoperative pain is an important part of clinical practice for nurses. Patients often fail to receive adequate pain relief which causes unnecessary pain experience. The aim of this study was to describe how nurses experience their clinical practice management with postoperative patients who experience pain. Eight nurses, practising in the postoperative care unit and surgical wards were interviewed. Data were gathered in unstructured interviews and analysed by means of a qualitative method. Six categories emerged: organising condition, perspective, attitude, knowledge, experience and assessment/priority. All the conditions are interrelated and influenced the nurses' handling of pain management in nursing practice. It appeared that these conditions reflected the nurses' possibilities of relieving patients' postoperative pain. An important element was the reflection of hospital management policy which makes the nurses, in spite of their desire to relieve the patients' pain, choose to have the attitude that the patient should be prepared to accept a little pain.