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Background Although pain is a common complaint among patients presenting to emergency departments (EDs), there is a dearth of nursing literature about barriers to pain management. Purpose The study aimed to uncover and understand barriers to pain management in the ED from the registered nurse (RN) perspective. Methods Semistructured interviews were conducted with 12 ED nurses in a Jordanian hospital. Data were collected throughout August 2016. Results Two broad categories with subcategories emerged. The first category describes the idea of types of patient, which included three particular groups. These were patients who are violent, patients with relatives who are, and patients with expectations of care that nurses view as unrealistic. The second category describes the taxing ED environment, with two subcategories of staff shortages and physician dominance of pain management. Nurses reported feeling as if they are the victims of external factors and perceived that barriers affected teamwork and led to distress which impairs pain management. Conclusions The role of ED nurses in pain management is multifaceted. Therefore, implementing policies to overcome barriers such as violence among ED attenders and the perceived hostility of the ED environment through mandatory security systems, and continuing nursing education including for violence prevention may be beneficial.

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Background Despite management of acute pain, concerns regarding pain are still prevalent in the emergency department (ED). Purpose This study aimed to explore the factors influencing patients’ pain management in a Jordanian ED. Method Fifteen semistructured interviews (N = 15) with purposively selected patients in the ED. Results The thematic analysis uncovered two related themes. The first theme described the stage of “being on ED bed” which encapsulates two subthemes: “bad pain means, bad diagnosis” and “smiley faces versus grumpy faces.” The second theme referred to as “being discharged” including two subthemes, namely, “praying for not paying” and “being grateful to God.” The lack of money to pay for pain management was equally as stressful as pain itself. Patients’ narratives suggest that nursing pain management is a critical time, extending beyond medical management to encompass communication and spirituality. Conclusions The factors influencing the patients’ experience of pain management extend beyond addressing the source of the pain. Consequently, effective communication coupled with respecting patients’ spirituality and socioeconomic concerns is essential to pain management. To enhance patients’ experience of pain management, the ED system should shift toward a patient-centric model.

Background: Although proper documentation of pain for postoperative patients is essential to promote patient health outcomes, there is limited examination of nurses' documentation of pain management. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to qualitatively analyze nursing documentation of pain management among postoperative patients in Jordan. Method: A documentary analysis method was used. A purposive sample of 80 medical records were reviewed, and a total of 720 nursing records were analyzed. Results: The analysis revealed that nurses' documentation of pain management was limited, vague, incomplete, and largely dependent on their subjective evaluation. Many of the documented goals were broad, not specific, not measurable, and with no time frame. Conclusions: Documentation patterns revealed a lack of proactive and systematic approach to pain assessment and management. Furthermore, there was little documented evidence of efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of pain management interventions. Findings have important implications for standardizing documentation of pain assessment, intervention, and evaluation.