Improving Pain Management Knowledge Among Nurses

Abstract

Pain is the most commonly presented symptom among patients who are admitted to the emergency department. Unfortunately, many barriers to pain management exist thereby impacting emergency department patient care and outcomes, specifically regarding inadequate pain assessment, reassessment, and documentation. Thus, the quality improvement project aimed to increase emergency department nurses knowledge of pain management and utilization of pain assessment guidelines, resources, and policies. By nurses having sufficient education, they can provide timely and efficient care to support patient outcomes, improve patient comfort, and improve patient satisfaction. The Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain was utilized to conduct a pre and post-test assessment to measure emergency department nurses’ knowledge of pain management [1]. The results of the quality improvement project showed that nurses lacked adequate pain management knowledge, 45.45% of participants responded incorrectly to knowledge questions about pain before the intervention. However, after the project implementation, the results of the data analysis showed a statistically significant mean increase of 23.91% from pre-intervention (65.65%) to post-intervention (89.56%) after eight weeks of project implementation. This quality improvement project will provide a basis for future studies in improving nurses’ pain management knowledge.