The Role Of Nurses In Pain Management

Abstract

Incorporating a grounded theory research design, the absence of a predetermined hypothesis allows for a comprehensive exploration of the ways in which nurses manage pain and to identify gaps where improvement is needed. This is particularly important given the explorative objectives of this study to link better pain management with improvements in patient safety and quality of care. Using knowledge from unique studies on other healthcare professionals, the exploration of attitudinal influences and biases that hinder effective pain management has been identified in the nursing community and previous research with medical practitioners, where nurses were frequently mentioned as a source of suboptimal pain care. This research design is suited to an investigation on how to better educate nurses to improve analgesic standards and outcomes for their patients, by effectively assessing and overcoming the specific barriers that exist within nursing practice at a variety of educational levels. Economic pressures and healthcare reforms have shifted an increasing amount of cancer and chronic pain care into community settings where statistics already show that most non-cancer patients do not receive adequate pain management. Given that the National Health Surveys is a population that includes this paper's focus, an exploration of all ages will allow for a general understanding of where nurses are falling short on pain care and highlight the specific areas where pain assessment and management could be improved. (Abouzida et al., 2020)

Nurses play a vital role in the assessment and management of pain in both acute and chronic settings. Unfortunately, barriers still exist which inhibit effective pain management in the general community and within the hospital setting. Furthermore, nursing involvement is often linked to poor pain management, and it has been identified that pain management practices can differ among nurses working on medical, surgical, and cancer units. In order to promote effective pain management and provide a comprehensive analysis of the role of nurses, this paper will critically evaluate current nursing practice in relation to the assessment of pain and provide a thorough examination of the barriers which exist in effective pain management. It will also address the attitudes and knowledge that many patients and healthcare professionals hold when considering opioid analgesia. To provide a broader understanding of the impact of nurses' involvement on pain care, an exploration of opioid use in the community and nursing management will be investigated. (Hamdan et al.2022)