Assessment of the knowledge of nurses working in oncological departments on assessment methods and principles of pain treatment

Abstract

Introduction. Pain is one of the main stressors that affects cancer patients. Therefore, eliminating unpleasant pain is one of the most important challenges in managing the quality of life of patients treated for oncological reasons. Nurses are the professional group that spends the most time with the patient, therefore they play an irreplaceable role in the decision-making process on pain management. Therefore, they should be well prepared for this role and should have an adequate knowledge of pain assessment methods and principles of pain management.

Aim. Evaluation of the knowledge of nurses working in oncology wards on methods of assessment and principles of pain treatment.

Material and method. The research was carried out between February 1 and April 30, 2023 using the diagnostic survey method. The study was conducted using an online survey. The research tool was a self-created questionnaire entitled Questionnaire for assessing the state of knowledge about diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in oncological patients with pain. It consisted of 30 statements and assessed the state of knowledge about pain assessment methods and principles in general and in four areas: Clinical assessment of pain, Pathophysiology of pain, Pharmacological treatment of pain and Non-pharmacological methods of pain treatment. The tool ended with questions about job-related variables and a metric.

Results. The study covered a group of 124 nurses working in oncology wards. As many as 95.16% (n = 118) were women. The mean age in the study group was 40.93 years. Most of the surveyed nurses lived in a large city. The average result of the general state of knowledge after summing up all the obtained points was 66.56 (SD = 8.71) points. The highest average score was obtained by the respondents in the area of Pharmacological treatment (M = 69.25; SD = 12.71), followed by the area of Clinical assessment of pain (M = 67.26; SD = 18.27). A slightly lower score was obtained in the area of Non-pharmacological methods of pain treatment (M = 63.87; SD = 13.66), and the lowest in the area of Pathophysiology of pain (M = 60.48; SD = 15.61).

Conclusions. In the surveyed group of nurses working in oncology wards, it was found that almost 76% of the respondents had a sufficient state of knowledge about the methods of assessment and principles of pain treatment. The sociodemographic feature significantly differentiating the study group in terms of the level of knowledge about pain assessment methods and principles of pain treatment was gender. Nurses who did not complete post-graduate studies had a significantly higher general knowledge of pain assessment methods and principles of pain treatment, and in the area of Non-pharmacological methods of pain treatment, nurses with a specialization in nursing had a significantly higher level of knowledge.