Idang N. Ojong, Mary M. Ojong-Alasia and Faith F. Nlumanze
Pain is a universal experience, and it is the most frequent reason for people seeking health care. The study focused on the assessment and management of pain among surgical patients by nurses in Secondary Health Facility in Calabar Metropolis, Nigeria. Three research objectives and one hypothesis were formulated to guide the study. The study adopted a descriptive design and 68 nurses caring for patients in surgical wards were enrolled for the study. Data were obtained through structured questionnaire (pain assessment and management schedule) reports (nurses-end-of-shift) cards and patients case note. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data and Pearson product moment correlation was used to test the hypothesis. The results obtained on methods of pain assessment recorded thus: information about patient 95.8%, pain history 89.7%, patient self report of pain 72%, observation of behaviour 78.9% and assessment of pain site and location 73.5%. The results on pain management revealed use of cold and heat compress 92.6%, diversional therapy 92.6%, health education 92.6%, use of opoids 77.9% and injection paracetamol 95.8%. Further, the result showed a significant relationship between knowledge of pain assessment and management, r-cal = 0.43, r-crit = .02, df 66 P < 0.05. Records of pain assessment and management were deficient in the wards and no pain management was identified. Based on this result, it was recommended that the hospital should set up a pain control team and organize workshop programmes to equip nurses with knowledge and skills in pain assessment, management and documentation.
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