Sykepleieres og studenters kunnskap og holdninger til smerte og smertelindring hos voksne
Sammanfattning
Background: Research reveals that nurses’ knowledge and attitudes are important for sufficient
pain relief to the patient. By identifying areas of improvement, efforts can be made to improve pain
management in nursing.
Objective: To survey nurses’ and nurse students’ knowledge and attitudes regarding pain and pain
relief.
Methods: A cross-sectional study where the Norwegian version of the Nurses’ Knowledge and
Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain (NKAS-N) was used. NKAS-N consists of 39 questions which address
general pain management and pain relief. The study included 200 nurses and nurse students at one
university hospital and one university college.
Results: The final sample consisted of 165 participants giving a response rate of 83 %. The average
of correct answers was 71.1% for the nurses and 58.5% for the nurse students. The nurses scored
significantly higher than the nurse students (p < 0.001).
Conclusion: The nurses and nurse students had an acceptable level of theoretical knowledge
regarding pain relief in some areas. Even so, the study revealed that both groups were anxious
about respiratory depression and opioid dependency. Further, there was a gap between what the
nurses