Pain management: education of the adult Intensive Care Unit nursing staff

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:Taking into account the complexity and subjectivity of pain for the patient and the need for constant updating of the healthcare team, the objective was to verify the knowledge and care practices of the nursing team regarding pain management in hospitalized adult patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) before and after carrying out an educational activity. METHODS: 32 nurses and nursing technicians who had been working in the ICU for more than six months participated. The stages included the application of the pre-test, educational activity and post-test, addressing assessment scales and pharmacological and non-pharmacological management methods. RESULTS: Regarding the concepts of chronic pain and acute pain, 68% responded that they knew the differences, however 15% answered questions related to acute pain correctly and 3% answered questions related to chronic pain correctly in the pre--test. Regarding prior knowledge about pain assessment scales, 84% knew the Numerical Verbal Scale, 15% knew the Behavioral Pain Scale, and 6% knew the Advanced Dementia Pain Scale; 62% said they had difficulty assessing pain in patients with advanced dementia and/or on mechanical ventilation. In questions