1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
Pain assessment of critically ill adult patients is a major challenge among health workers around the world. Pain is frequently encountered in critical care, and there is increased emphasis on the professional responsibility for managing the patient’s pain effectively. Pain is routinely under treated, despite it being estimated as the most complex of human stresses due to the subjectivity associated with it (Abdairahim et al., 2014). About 80% of people worldwide do not receive adequate treatment for pain. Severe under treatment of pain is a serious problem in more than 150 countries, with issues such as lack of education and legal barriers to access pain medication being worse in poorer countries (Walters,
…show more content…
Pain is a multidimensional phenomenon and it is the nurse’s task to identify the factors that may influence the patient’s way of experiencing and expressing pain. Pain management has to be prioritized and visible in the plan of care patients with pain (Abdul-Monim, 2014). It is possible to suffer from different kinds of pain and; every type of pain needs specific measures for assessment and treatments. It is especially important to adequately address pain in patients that will undergo an invasive procedure. Evaluation of acute pain should be done frequently in order to know if the current pain treatment strategy is adequate (Nichols et al., 2011) An organized pain management strategy enhances the health care team’s ability to …show more content…
Findings from this study will help to analyze current situation on pain assessment with respect to level of knowledge and practice among nurses attending critically ill adult patients, so as strategies to improve pain assessment knowledge and practice, such as providing update knowledge and practice, continuing education be design, implemented and evaluated. Additionally, it may have an impact on the current education curriculum on pain, hence the need to investigate nurses’ knowledge and practices relating to pain assessment for critically ill