Comparison Between VA and Hospice Nurses in Their Knowledge of Cancer Pain Management

摘要

The inability to manage patients' pain is a dilemma that continues to plague the nursing profession. Currently, pain can be managed very effectively in up to 90% of patients with cancer, but lack of knowledge prevents many patients from receiving effective pain relief. Throughout the country, nurses lack adequate knowledge of pain management which interferes with effective pain relief Nurses who specialize in cancer or hospice care tend to be more knowledgeable about pain and pain management than medical-surgical nurses. The continuous consolidation of nursing units is occurring in many hospitals. Due to the reduction of personnel, oncology units have been dissolved and the patients have been assimilated into the remaining units. The nurses on these units are expected to effectively manage patients' cancer pain. The purpose of this study was to compare differences in levels of knowledge of cancer pain management between hospice nurses (n = 28), and VA nurses (n = 27), and identify factors related to that knowledge. The Pain Management Knowledge Test - Revised, a 31- item multiple choice test measuring aspects of pain knowledge, was completed by Hospice nurses and VA nurses in a large southern city. Hospice nurses scored significantly higher (p = .000) than VA nurses. Correlations between age and score, and years of experience and score found no relationship. Nurses who had continuing education on pain management scored significantly higher (p = .003) than nurses who had not had continuing education on pain management. Eighty-two percent of hospice nurses had pain management CE and only thirty percent of VA nurses had pain management CE. Mean knowledge scores of the hospice nurses were higher than mean scores of the VA nurses regardless of their educational level. Pain knowledge scores appeared to be more related to CE than level of educational achievement.