Assessment and Management of Pain in Children: Knowledge and Attitude of Staff Nurses

Introduction: Pain is a subjective experience and is influenced by individuals sensory, affective, behavioural, cognitive, socio-cultural and physiologic components. The children who are the vulnerable group for the pain experience in the hospital, the pain assessment and management in children is a challenge to nurses. Objective: To assess the knowledge and attitude of staff nurses regarding the assessment and management of pain in children, find correlation between the knowledge and attitude, and find association between knowledge, attitude and the selected demographic variables.

Methodology: A descriptive survey approach was used to assess the knowledge and attitude of staff nurses regarding the assessment and management of pain in children in selected hospital Mangalore. Convenience sampling technique was used to select 100 staff nurses. Data was gathered using the structured knowledge questionnaire and the attitude scale on assessment and management of pain in children. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Result: The study results showed that the majority (53%) of the sample had inadequate knowledge regarding assessment and management of pain in children. Majority (77%) of the sample showed favourable attitude towards assessment and management of pain in children. In the study there was a significant association between knowledge and the selected demographic variables and the attitude and the selected variables. There was also a significant correlation between the knowledge and attitude of the staff nurses regarding assessment and management of pain in children.

Conclusion: The study concluded that the staff nurses have inadequate knowledge and a favourable attitude towards the assessment and management of pain in children. It is recommended that continuing education programmes can be conducted for the staff nurses to enhance their knowledge.