RESEARCH ARTICLE
The Knowledge and Educational Needs of Nurses Regarding Pain Management of Patients on Maintenance Hemodialysis: A Qualitative Study
Eman Khamis Al Nazly1, *, Husam Al Khatib1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2021Volume: 15
First Page: 93
Last Page: 102
Publisher ID: TONURSJ-15-93
DOI: 10.2174/1874434602115010093
Article History:
Received Date: 3/10/2020Revision Received Date: 8/3/2021
Acceptance Date: 17/3/2021
Electronic publication date: 18/06/2021
Collection year: 2021
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Nurses are the first to encounter a patient in pain. A nurse’s knowledge of pain management in patients receiving hemodialysis allows them to provide optimal pain management.
Objective:
The aim of this qualitative study is to explore the experiences, perceptions, and beliefs of nurses in the hemodialysis unit regarding pain management practices and identify nurses’ educational needs to improve nurses’ pain management in practice.
Methods:
A purposive sample of 16 nurses working in four out-patient hemodialysis units in Amman, Jordan, was recruited. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed manually for the following content analysis scheme.
Results:
The five themes and fifteen sub-categories were extracted from the nurses' experiences regarding nurses’ knowledge of pain management. The five categories that emerged from the analysis were (1) nurses’ knowledge of pain management, (2) nurses’ self-learning pain management strategy, (3) nurses’ approach to pain management, (4) patients continue to suffer unrelieved pain, (5) nurses’ educational needs.
Relevance to Clinical Practice:
This data will prove to be useful for evaluating pain management practices for patients on maintenance hemodialysis, developing educational programs for nurses working in hemodialysis units with a focus on improving pain management, and providing knowledge regarding these issues. More research is recommended among nurses for understanding pain knowledge in patients on maintenance hemodialysis.
Conclusion:
This qualitative analysis indicated that nurses are not fully aware of various strategies for pain management. Nurses’ perception of pain and pain management was found to be limited to pain assessment and some non-pharmacological management strategies. It has been revealed that nurses require educational interventions regarding pain management in practice.
