Comparative Differences in the Perception of Postoperative Pain in Patients and Nurses

Aim. To found out is there a difference in postoperative pain assessment perception between patients and medical professionals  - nurses involved in the patient care.

Patients and methods. This study is conducted on surgical wards at “Sveti Duh” University hospital, Zagreb. Subjects included were patients on day one after the surgery. They reported their pain perception on numeric and verbal scale of assessment. Their perception was compared with assessment performed by nurses using the same method.

Results. Median pain perception measured on numeric scale was 4 if assessed by patients, while the same pain perception was assessed by nurses to be 3. Both, patients and nurses assessed the pain perception more objectively if the pain was assessed using numeric (p=0,083), compared to verbal scale (0,677). Using verbal scale (range 1-5), 24,3% of nurses reported pain perception assessment to be 1 while at the same time such pain intensity was reported by 17,5% of patients. Similarly, pain intensity perception of 4 was reported by 10,7% nurses and 20,4% of patients if assessed at the same time. The difference was also found in pain assessment perception regarding the level to education of nurses, using both, numeric (p=0,067) and verbal scale (p=0,286). There was no difference in the pain assessment perception regarding the sex of the subjects included (median 4). However, there was a difference reported between expected pain prior to surgery and actual pain after the surgery if assessed by numeric scale (p=0,002). On verbal scale, high pain intensity was reported by 47,6% patients expecting mid pain intensity and 28,6% of patients reporting the fear from the pain preoperatively.

Conclusion. There was no statistically significant difference found in the pain perception assessment comparing patients and medical professional – nurses.