Knowledge, Practice and Beliefs of Pediatric Nurses about Pain

Aim: Pediatric nurses play a crucial role in the assessment and management of a child's pain. The main purpose of nursing care is to eliminate pain and improve the quality of life. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, practice and beliefs of pediatric nurses about pain. Materials and methods: The current study using a descriptive research design included 102 pediatric nurses working at Akdeniz University Hospital who agreed to participate in the study. Data were collected using a questionnaire developed by the researchers via a face to face interview method also by the researchers. Results: Approximately half of these pediatric nurses (40.2%) are in the 20-29 age group, 51% are married and 80.4% are bachelor's degree holders. In this study, 56.9% of the nurses stated that they did not receive any education about pain and 51% stated that they had insufficient knowledge about the evaluation of pain. Although 67.6% of these nurses state that they have a pain scale in their clinics, 65.6% of the nurses in our study group do not know the name of the scale. Although pain is subjective, only 68.6% of the nurses believed that the child/mother had expressed the pain and 22.5% stated that the cause of the pain was always an illness. In the study, 88.2% of nurses stated that analgesia should not be given before the onset of pain. Conclusion: It is very important to make in-service training programs for pain which is considered as a vital finding. It is recommended that nurses increase their level of knowledge to counter false beliefs/practices about pain. It is hoped that the results of this study will be a reference for the development and updating of nursing education, curricula and clinical training.