An Analysis of Italian Nurses’ Approach to Patients’ Pain: A Nationwide Online Survey

Abstract

Healthcare providers play a fundamental role in evaluating pain. Several issues about how nurses are educated remain unsolved. The aim of our study was to address how Italian nurses manage patients suffering from pain in daily practice. A cross-sectional survey was administered among Italian registered nurses. Data were collected using a 34-item questionnaire that had been previously validated during a pilot study. The lowest level of participation/education/information events was observed in the South (p=0.0001). A significant difference among the four areas was found in the department affiliation of responders (p=0.0001). Pain assessment at patients' admission was most frequent in the Northeast (32.9%), whereas the lowest frequency was found in the South (15.1%) (p=0.0001). The prevalence of nurses' knowledge of pain scales and their distribution in usual applications was similar in the Northwest and -east, and Central Italy, but lower in the South (p=0.0001). This study underlines the need for change in the clinical approach to pain treatment in healthcare. Pain assessment is a fundamental step for preparing individualized therapeutic plans, and nurses play a crucial role in improving the quality of life of suffering patients.

<p>Nurses’ Behavior Regarding Pain Treatment in an Emergency Department: A Single-Center Observational Study</p>

“…A recent cross-sectional survey-based study on 696 Italian nurses showed that patterns of practice and approaches to pain are heterogeneous across Italy, as demonstrated by a less proactive management of pain and less knowledge of pain scales and structured questionnaires in southern regions. 13 Our findings support the thesis that, during triage, pain is often overlooked. Barriers to better pain management could be related to both cultural and organizational factors.…”

“…This would reduce patient waiting times for analgesic treatment and pain-related complications, as highlighted by recent European guidelines. 13 Also, the literature emphasizes the importance to nurses to treat pain in accordance with evidence-based practice. Nevertheless, as shown by a recent Polish study, a main barrier for nurses could be the fact that the scientific literature is mainly in English.…”

“…A recent cross-sectional survey-based study on 696 Italian nurses showed that patterns of practice and approaches to pain are heterogeneous across Italy, as demonstrated by a less proactive management of pain and less knowledge of pain scales and structured questionnaires in southern regions. 13 …”

Effectiveness of a Collaborative Nursing Care Model for the Treatment of Patients with Diabetic Foot Disease by Transverse Tibial Bone Transport Technique: A Pilot Study

“…Pain assessment is a fundamental step for monitoring the course of "individualized" therapeutic plans, and nurses play a pivotal role in its evaluation from triage in an emergency department to postoperative care, from home care to palliative care at the end of life. 41 In this study, data related to quantitative pain perception by the participants from applying the VAS analog scale (Table 2) show that patients rated their pain higher than the usual care nursing staff, with the mean difference in scores reported between the two cohorts being close to 3 raw points on the 11-point scale of 0 to 10. With an average reported pain score of 6.83 (control group) and 3.87 (observation group), the control group's average scores were 1.8 times higher than the average collaborative nursing care score.…”

Assessment of Pain and Associated Comorbidities: A Survey of Real Life Experiences Among Nurses in Italy

“…The distribution of the participants in the four geographical regions has been reported in a previous paper. 7 Table 1 shows the geographical distributions of pain type (acute, chronic, and oncologic), frequency of each pain type, disorders underlying the non-oncological pain, specific pain types, anatomical sites of pain, and comorbidities associated with pain observed in clinical practice.…”