Postoperative pain assessment and management among nurses in selected hospitals in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria

Objective: This study was designed to determine the nurse assessment of postoperative pain and its management in selected hospitals, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was adopted. The target population consist of 222 purposely nurses who are in the cadre of nursing officer II to chief nursing officer who works in the various surgical wards/units of the selected health facilities. The data were collected from the participants using the pretested structured questionnaire developed by the researcher. Results: Results showed that 66.2% of nurses had a poor level of knowledge on postoperative pain assessment. The McGill Pain Questionnaire was the most used pain assessment tool with a mean score of 2.84 whereas the Dallas Pain Questionnaire was the least used with a mean score of 1.90. “Providing clean, calm, and well-ventilated ward environment” (3.69 ± 0.61) was the most used nonpharmacological method for postoperative pain management, followed by “distraction, relaxation, and guided imagery” (3.52 ± 0.50), “dressing, bandage, splint, and reinforce wound sites postoperatively” (3.39 ± 0.54), and “early ambulation/exercise” (3.20 ± 0.62). The most used pharmacological interventions were “acetaminophen” (3.63 ± 0.55), “topical anesthetic” (2.92 ± 0.62), “nonselective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs” (2.87 ± 0.43), and “mixed opioid agonist–antagonist” (2.56 ± 0.56). Conclusion: There is a poor level of knowledge on postoperative pain assessment among nurses in this study setting. It is, therefore, pertinent for hospitals to organize continuous in-service training for postoperative pain assessment and management, especially on nonpharmacological approaches among nurses.