Physicians’ Attitudes to Clinical Pain Management and Education: Survey from a Middle Eastern Country

Abstract

Despite promising initiatives to advance the practice of pain management in Middle Eastern countries, their pain care lags behind developed countries. The objectives of this study are to evaluate physicians' assessment of their own competency in pain management, to assess physicians' practice related to pain management, and to identify physician-related barriers to effective pain control. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 3 teaching medical centers in Lebanon targeting the above-mentioned outcomes and assessing the impact of physicians' years in practice on the studied end-points. A total of 69 physicians were surveyed. Fifty-seven percent reported “very good to excellent” pain management skills; only 25% of them described the need for continuing professional development. When treating patients with pain, 52% of physicians refer to updated international guidelines, whereas 43% rely on their own judgment. Physicians were more likely to consult with another physician (65%) rather than a pharmacist (12%) when treating patients with pain. Fear of adverse effects of analgesics was the most commonly reported barrier (45%) to pain control among physicians from different career stages. Based on these survey findings, national pain management and practice policies are needed to optimize this area of deficiency in patient care.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Cameroonian physicians with regards to acute pain management in the emergency department: a multicenter cross-sectional study

“…The discrepancy between our finding and the aforementioned studies [6,10], may be explained by the absence of regular refresher courses organized in our resource-limited setting to continuously train and update physicians on pain management in the ED.…”

“…This may infer that the long years of clinical experience, Cameroonian general practitioners tend to take fewer refresher courses to maintain or upgrade their knowledge on pain management compared to physicians ( residents and interns) undergoing a specialization program. This is in contrast with previous Lebanon cross-sectional study which showed inexperienced physicians to have a lower level of knowledge on pain management [10]. More contradicting results were obtained in an Iranian crosssectional survey which observed a positive and significant correlation between the number of years professional experience and the level of knowledge on pain management (p = 0.002, r = 0.03) [6].…”

Perceptions of parents and paediatricians on pain induced by bone marrow aspiration and lumbar puncture among children with acute leukaemia: a qualitative study in China

“…We also found that there is no relationship between the participating paediatricians' awareness of the LPs and BMAs procedural pain management, their years of clinical experience and their professional title. However, this is obviously contrary to the studies conducted by Kim et al 36 and Nasser et al, 37 which found that the degree of attitude and knowledge status of pain management were correlated with physicians' personal experience. A possible explanation is: no clinical training in pain management and the deficiency of paediatric staff.…”

Development and psychometric appraisal of the Pain Management Self‐Efficacy Questionnaire

“…However, building pain management self‐efficacy among healthcare professionals has remained a challenge because of several barriers. Some of these barriers include lack of training, fear and negative attitudes (Nasser, Nassif, & Saad, ; Yanni et al., ) thus, compromising the effectiveness of treatment modalities and patient safety. Chiang et al.…”

“…As competence in pain management is indispensable to ensure effective approaches (Al‐Khawaldeh, Al‐Hussami, & Darawad, ; Craig, ; Yaqoob & Nasaif, ), nurses must engage in continuous professional education to advance knowledge, skills, attitude and self‐efficacy in pain management (Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario (RNAO), ). However, literature also highlighted the importance of exploring the beliefs and attitudes of healthcare professionals (Nasser et al., ; RNAO, ; Wells et al., ; Yaqoob & Nasaif, ). Healthcare professionals with poor knowledge and skills and have negative attitudes towards pain management, especially with opioid analgesics, may ineffectively assess and treat pain (Yanni et al., ).…”