Abstract

The purposes of this study will be to explore nurses' knowledge, attitude and barriers regarding pain management in intensive care units. A cross-sectional research will be conducted with a convenience sampling approach. Participants will be recruited from two medical centers, four district hospitals and eight regional hospitals in Taiwan. The inclusion criteria will be: 1) nurses who are in the age of 18-years-old or above, 2) have registered nurse license or practiced registered nurse license, and 3) are full-time employee in the selected hospitals. A self-report and structured questionnaire which includes demographic data, the Nurses' Knowledge and Attitudes Survey-Taiwanese version (NKAS-T), and the inventory of Intensive Care Units Nurses' Barriers Regarding Pain Management will be used for data collection. The estimated sample size will be 330 nurses. SPSS 10.0 Windows version will be used to analyze data. The result of this research can help health care providers to understand nurses' knowledge, attitude and barriers regarding pain management in intensive care units. Based on the findings, nursing administrators can develop in-serve program to help nurses to enhance their knowledge and attitudes and overcomes their barriers about pain managements. As a result, it can promote the quality of care and help patients to have the positive pain experience in the intensive units.

Key words: intensive care units, nurses, pain management, knowledge,  attitude, barriers