Pain knowledge and attitudes of nurses and midwives in a New Zealand context

Abstract

Pain management is a complex nursing and midwifery activity requiring sound knowledge and understanding of pain. However, current research indicates that nurses' knowledge and attitudes are inadequate and lead to inconsistent practice. A survey of nurses' and midwives' pain knowledge and attitudes in New Zealand had not previously been conducted here. The purpose of this study was to describe nurses' and midwives' knowledge in the New Zealand hospital setting and identify areas for improvement in clinical practice, education and the organisational setting. A 64 item pain knowledge and attitudes questionnaire was examined in a randomly selected survey of nurses and midwives from two tertiary hospitals in New Zealand. The survey had a 48% response rate (286 in total). The findings have confirmed that New Zealand nurses and midwives have similar knowledge and attitudes deficits as nurses from other countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States and face similar barriers to their practice. It appears that nurses and midwives have been positively influenced by the acute pain service in their pain management practice particularly with reference to the analgesia choices they make. A positive relationship between position on the unit and experience working with patients in pain was demonstrated. For those working in the casual resource nursing/midwifery unit a knowledge deficit was demonstrated with reference to addiction knowledge. Recommendations are discussed with reference to clinical practice, education, research and policy development.