Nurses’knowledge towards pain assessment and pharmacological management in ICUs
Introduction
Nursing refers to the functions and duties carried out by persons who have had formal education and training in the art and science of nursing. To promote the restoration and maintenance of health in their clients, nurses become more particular in enhancing their knowledge through integration with health and biological sciences (Gubrium & De Gruyter, 1993). As an applied discipline, the vocation of nursing evolves within a dynamic body of knowledge. The quality of nursing practice is dependent on the knowledge of individual practitioners as well as their willingness to engage in professional relationships and behaviors.
Nurses are required to have the skills and know-how to explore, confirm, and direct the progress of nursing practice. Five value concepts uphold professional development: the (1) knowledge base, which is the foundation knowledge base upon which clinical practice decisions are made, (2) continuing education which comprise of the continuing learning activities that are crafted to benefit the individual and the profession, (3) mentoring and networking which are the professional relationships that are instituted with the intent of supportive growth for the individual as well as the profession, (4) research which is the qualitative and/or quantitative investigation of the factors which affects the professional nursing practice, and lastly (5) career development which are purposeful, planned strategies that are designed to boost short and long term professional goals (Angelucci, Quinn & Handlin, 1998).
It has not been long since nurses have had specialized training especially on patient management; these specialized trainings include the situation in which they are more likely to find themselves, thus affecting how they will react to the situations presented before them. The differences of their actions mean very much to the patients, and thus they must learn how to distinguish the different factors and be able to help their patients in achieving the best method of improving their health and returning to their vigorous states. This research aims on analysing the Nurses’knowledge towards pain assessment and pharmacological management in ICUs.
Statement of the Problem
As discussed in the introduction, studies have identified the inadequacy of proper pain assessment among different patient groups. This proposed research then intends to answer the following queries:
1. What are the extent of nurses’ knowledge in terms of pain assessment as well as pharmacological management in ICU?
2. How do nurses help their patients to alleviate and manage pain?
3. Is there a need for a rigorous training programme for the nurses handling pain assessment and pharmacological management in ICU?
Objectives of the Study
The following statement will be the main objectives of the study, which the researcher will attempt to achieve:
Literature Review
Accuracy of pain assessment tools and methods. In the last few years, experiments and other forms of studies have been designed in the medical arena to evaluate the validity and reliability of the different agitation and sedation scales including the Sedation-Agitation Scale and the Motor Activity Assessment Scale. Other assessment tools have been developed from the results and observations made among patients that helped clinicians in the area of patient care. Such studies recommended further investigation on the impact of these monitoring techniques in relation to the aim of improving patient comfort, minimizing adverse events, and reducing resource consumption as well as more accurate pain assessment methods.
Assessing pain and sedation in nonresponsive patients is a challenge primarily because of the confounding effect of sedation on objective indicators of pain. As such, clinicians might interpret incorrectly because the behavioral responses to pain and anxiety/agitation have many similarities. Hence, additional research is needed to establish the validity, sensitivity, and specificity of pain indicators in sedated patients. Moreover, in the case of nonresponsive sedated patients, clinicians should integrate actual or potential risks of pain and risks of pain-related functional impairment into their pain assessment (Puntillo, 2004). According to Puntillo (2003) pain assessment and management for critical care patients, present challenges to clinicians and researchers as pain assessment methods and clinical trials of pharmacological interventions continue to investigate procedural pain assessment methods. There have been studies that investigated the validity and reliability of pain assessment tools that medical practitioners are currently using.
Research Design
This study will be conducted in order to identify the different causes of apprehensions among patients in using opioid-based analgesics. In this proposed research, the descriptive method will be utilized, using a sample of 50 patients. According to Creswell (2005), the descriptive method of research is to gather information about the present existing condition. Thus, this method is the most appropriate to use.
Two types of data will be used for this study: the primary and the secondary data. The primary data will be derived from the answers respondents will give in the questionnaire and interview facilitated by the researcher. The secondary data on the other hand, will be derived from the findings stated in published documents and literatures related to the research problem. These will be based from the recent literatures related to factors that make patient hesitant towards opioid-based analgesics. As this proposed study will utilize two different research instruments, both quantitative and qualitative approaches will be utilized in the process. Through this combined approach, the researcher will be able to address the limitations of either approach.
Reference
Angelucci, D., Quinn, L. & Handlin, D. (1998) A Pain assessment Relief Plan. Nursing Management, 10th January.
Gubrium, J. and De Gruyter, A. (1993) Speaking Of Life: Horizons of Meaning for Nursing Home Residents
Puntillo K., Stannard D., Miaskowski C., Kehrle K., Gleson S. (2002) Use of pain Assessment and intervention notation (P.A.I.N.) tool in critical care nursing practice. Nurses evaluations. Heart Lung; 31:303-314
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