Knowledge and clinical practice of nurses for adult post-operative orthopaedic pain management

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Pain management is a vital component of post-operative nursing care. Orthopaedic patientsin particular experience severe pain following surgical intervention. Since effective painmanagement is crucial in the post-operative recovery of orthopaedic patients, it wasessential to explore the knowledge and clinical practice of nurses in orthopaedic wards. Theaim of the study was to establish nurses' knowledge and clinical practice for adult postoperativepain management of orthopaedic patients.A non-experimental, descriptive self-administered survey using a quantitative approach wasapplied. The total population of N=97 registered professional and enrolled nurses working indedicated orthopaedic wards in two central hospitals in the Cape Town Metropole district,South Africa were invited to participate in the study. A structured questionnaire was used tocollect the data. Reliability and validity was assured by means of a pilot study andconsultation with nursing experts and a statistician.Ethical approval was obtained from the Health Research Ethics Committee of the Universityof Stellenbosch. Permission for access to the hospitals was obtained from the hospital andnursing managers. Informed written consent was obtained from the participants.The data was analysed by the statistician and presented in frequencies, tables andhistograms. The variables were compared using either the Pearson chi-square test fordifferences in nursing category or the Mann-Whitney U-test for differences in years ofexperience.The analysis of the results illustrated knowledge deficits, inconsistent clinical practices andlimited training in post-operative pain management. The recommendations include trainingcourses, revision of the patient's observation chart and formulation of policies and guidelinesfor pain management. Appropriate knowledge and clinical skills of nurses are critical toensure optimal pain management for post-operative orthopaedic patients.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University