Education and training of pain nurse specialists in the United Kingdom

Determinants of nurses' knowledge gap on pain management in Ghana

“…Information and training provided in such training sessions should be https://repository.uwc.ac.za/ relevant to the resources available to the nurses. The enhanced knowledge could empower practising nurses to teach student and novice nurses to acquire effective pain management skills, as shown in other studies (Sawhney & Sawyer, 2008;Williamson-Swift, 2007). Also, the training could improve pain management through effective assessment and reporting (Courtenay & Carey, 2008).…”

Nurse prescribing for inpatient pain in the United Kingdom: A national questionnaire survey

“…Few nurses reported focusing on a single pain type. This adds to evidence that pain nurse specialists are increasingly working across pain categories, blurring distinctions between acute and chronic pain services (Williamson-Swift 2007) and may reflect the complexity of prescribing for inpatients whose pain can originate from multiple and migrating sources. It is known that nurse prescribers find it both confusing and restricting to work within legislation that dictates which controlled drugs can be prescribed according to the origin or pain category, particularly when treating patients who fall within the grey areas between pain categories (Stenner and Courtenay, 2007).…”

“…Evidence suggests that pain is a therapy area for which nurses (working in a range of practice areas) frequently prescribe, both in the UK Gordon, 2009), Ireland (Drennan et al, 2009) and the USA (Fontana, 2008). Of the pain nurse specialists surveyed by Williamson-Swift (2007), 12% had undertaken a prescribing qualification. When nurses are able to prescribe for patients in pain, numerous benefits for patients, staff and services have been reported Courtenay 2008b, Kaasalainen et al, 2010).…”

“…The role that nurses play within pain teams is continually evolving. A survey of pain nurse specialist members of the British Pain Society in the UK indicated that some nurses now manage all inpatient pain rather than just post-operative pain (Williamson-Swift, 2007).…”

Prescribing for pain – how do nurses contribute? A national questionnaire survey

“…It is reported that specialist pain nurses with prescriptive authority can contribute to improving access to appropriate pain treatment, reducing errors and enhancing the quality of care (Stenner & Courtenay 2008a). Nurses who specialise in pain tend to be well qualified and trained in pain management (Williamson‐Swift 2007, Kaasalainen et al. 2007b, Stenner et al.…”