Nurses' pain management decisions in the post surgery context: A naturalistic study

Funded Activity Summary

In the hospital environment, doctors often prescribe medications for pain using an as required format on the drug order chart. Very often, this form of prescription occurs in the surgical wards of a hospital, where a patient may need a lot of pain relieving medication in the early period following the operation, and very little medication a few days following the operation. In the as required form of prescribing, the nurse caring for the patient has enormous flexibility in determining when and how much medication should be administered. Previous work has consistently shown that nurses do not administer adequate medication, which often results in poor pain control. Several nurse-related reasons have been proposed for poor pain management, including the fear of addiction, the fear of producing difficulties in breathing, and inadequate education about the medications administered. The focus of previous work has relied on examining small areas in isolation. Primarily, researchers have examined information on the drug order charts following patient discharge from hospital. They have also relied on analysing nurses' views on pain management relating to hypothetical patient situations. Overall, the research fails to address the multiple and interconnected factors faced by the nurse which could impact on pain management. Sources of these factors may be the patient, nurse, medication or environment. Examples of these factors include the presence or absence of the doctor, nurses' communication with doctors and other nurses about patient care, layout of the hospital ward, ward management structure, and methods used by the nurse to assess patient pain. By identifying the complex factors that impinge on decisions for managing pain, this study will provide opportunities to address the barriers that prevent adequate pain management. Nurses will then be in a position to change their practice in order to improve the management of patients' pain.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2000

End Date: 01-01-2000

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $56,368.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Cancer genetics

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Clinical Decision Making | Clinical decison making | Pain | Pain Management | Pain assessment | Pain management | Participant observation | Post surgery

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