The Third Year Anesthesiology Residents’ Knowledge Regarding Pediatric Postoperative Pain Management

Abstract

Background: There are six Anesthesiology training centers in Thailand that are approved to operate the training program. An evidence of residents' knowledge about pediatric postoperative pain management is needed for improving the program. Objective: To assess the third year anesthesiology residents' knowledge about pediatric postoperative pain management. Materials and Methods: The questionnaire was adapted from previous studies. The questionnaire has 35 questions consisted of 17 multiple choice questions and 18 true or false questions to cover 2 domains: 1) use of age-appropriate pediatric pain assessment (10 questions) and 2) pediatric pain treatment (25 questions). Minimal passing level of the questionnaire rated by three young anesthesiology staffs was 76.2%. All 62 participants were the 3 rd year anesthesiology residents from 6 training centers. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics. Results: The response rate was 95.2%. Seventy-one percent of participants reported that they had learned about pediatric pain treatment. Of those, 55.9% rated their remaining knowledge at median level. The proportion of the correct score was 67.7% (mean 23.7 ± 2.9 SD) which was lower than the minimal passing level. The highest score was 29 and the lowest score was 16. For pain assessment domain; the mean proportion of correct score was 65% (range 90%-40%). For pain treatment domain; the mean proportion of correct score was 68.8% (range 88%-44%). Conclusion: Anesthesiology residents' knowledge about pediatric postoperative pain management needs to be improved.

Survey of Resident’s Knowledge and Attitude About Preoperative Evaluation

“…Literature support that knowledge and skills gradually wane after learning something, especially when the knowledge is not integrated into regular practice. 14,15 A knowledge-practice gap may be created by prescribing a battery of preoperative tests from the fear of litigation.…”

Educational Intervention to Strengthen Pediatric Postoperative Pain Management: A Cluster Randomized Trial

“…Pain assessment and postoperative pain management in children have been examined using chart reviews in many previous studies (12,14,(100)(101)(102)(103)(104)(105)(106)(107)(108) and more recent studies (66,(109)(110)(111)(112)(113)(114)(115)(116)(117). Two of these studies were conducted in PACUs (113,115).…”

“…Two of these studies were conducted in PACUs (113,115). Findings from these studies demonstrate high (94%-69%) pain prevalence in hospitalized children (103, 110-112, 114, 116, 118) and that many children (24%-70%) experience moderate to severe pain (100,102,103,105,107,109,(111)(112)(113)(114)(116)(117)(118). Some studies showed that 50% of the children with a high pain intensity score did not receive pain medication (114) and that 75% of the children received a pharmacologic intervention that was too low according to the analgesic ladder (12).…”

Knowledge and Attitudes in Pain Relief Management Among Private Hospital Nurses

“…Lack of knowledge about opioids, negative attitudes toward prescribing opioids, and inadequate pain-assessment skills, lack of communication skills combine to create major barriers to pain relief (Kassa et al, 2014). The advantages of good analgesia are particularly important for ill patients because of its physiologic and psychological benefits (Al-Wassia, 2016; Thienthong et al, 2013).…”