10.12.2012 Views

Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

<strong>School</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Nursing</strong> & <strong>Midwifery</strong>, <strong>Trinity</strong> College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research <strong>Conference</strong><br />

Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007<br />

<strong>Conference</strong> <strong>Proceedings</strong><br />

Back to contents page<br />

A Survey <strong>of</strong> Nurses’ Knowledge and Attitudes Regarding<br />

Paediatric Pain Assessment and Management: An Irish<br />

Perspective.<br />

Eileen Tiernan<br />

RGN, RSCN, ENB 160, BSc. (Hons)<br />

Clinical Nurse Facilitator<br />

Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children,<br />

Crumlin, Dublin 12.<br />

Tel: +353 (0) 87 2239227 (Mobile)<br />

+353 (0) 1 4096791 (Work)<br />

Email: eileen.tiernan@olhsc.ie<br />

Aim<br />

The aim <strong>of</strong> this research study was to explore registered nurses<br />

knowledge and attitudes regarding paediatric pain assessment and<br />

management.<br />

Design and Methods<br />

A quantitative descriptive survey was employed. Using a simple<br />

random sample strategy, 292 registered nurses, from a variety <strong>of</strong><br />

units in a children’s hospital in the Republic <strong>of</strong> Ireland were invited<br />

to participant in this study. Ethical approval was granted from The<br />

Faculty <strong>of</strong> Health Sciences, <strong>Trinity</strong> College Dublin and from the<br />

participating hospital. The Paediatric Nurses Knowledge and<br />

Attitude Survey (PNKAS) regarding pain, a self report questionnaire<br />

was utilised to collect data. Tool is a statistically reliable: Testretest<br />

r = 0.859 and Cronbach alpha 0.708. A response rate <strong>of</strong><br />

60% (n = 174) was achieved.<br />

Data Analysis<br />

The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 12 was<br />

employed to analysis quantitative and open questions were<br />

analysed by thematic content analysis. Descriptive and inferential<br />

statistics i.e. Chi-square, Independent Sample t-test, Analysis <strong>of</strong><br />

Variance (ANOVA) and Kruskal-Wallis tests were performed to<br />

examine differences between groups.<br />

Results<br />

Total mean score on the PNKAS scale was 62%. Majority <strong>of</strong> nurses<br />

scored < 80%, which has been identified as a satisfactory level for<br />

practice standards. Nurses had knowledge deficits particularly in<br />

regard to pharmacology pharmacokinetics and non-pharmacological<br />

interventions and especially opiates i.e. the incidence <strong>of</strong> respiratory<br />

depression and risk <strong>of</strong> addiction. No differences were demonstrated<br />

- 720 -

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!