Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this study is to assess the perceived knowledge and practice of immediate post-operative pain management among nurses working in surgical wards in Rwanda.
Specific Objectives
- To assess the level of perceived knowledge of nurses working in surgical wards with regards to immediate post-surgery pain management in Rwanda.
- To evaluate the level of perceived practice of nurses working in surgical wards with regards to immediate post-surgery pain management in Rwanda.
- To establish factors associated with perceived knowledge and practice of nurses working in surgical wards concerning immediate post-surgery pain management in Rwanda.
- To examine the relationship between perceived knowledge and the practice of nurses with regards immediate post-operative pain management in Rwanda.
Methodology: This study used a descriptive cross-sectional design involving a convenience sample of 131 nurses working in surgical wards. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and multiple regression were used to analyze the data.
Results: The majority of the nurses (88%) had high levels of knowledge on immediate post-operative pain management. While 126 (96%) of the nurses had moderate levels of practice with regards to immediate post-operative pain management. Age (21.2 95%CI (20.4 – 22.5), p = 0.000), gender (21.4 95% CI (20.4 – 22.6, p = 0.000), marital status (95% CI 18.1 – 23.6, p = 0.000), educational level (95% CI 20.4 – 22.5, p = 0.008) and working experience (95% CI 19.9 – 21.4, p = 0.000) were associated with perceived knowledge of nurses with regards to immediate post-operative management in surgical wards. On the other hand, only age (33.3 95% CI 32.9 – 33.8, p = 0.032), educational level (33.1 95% CI 33.1 – 34.5, p = 0.006) and working experience (33.2 95% CI 32.9 – 33.9, p = 0.031) were associated with the practice of nurses of immediate post-operative management in surgical units.
There was an overall significant moderate positive correlation (r .689, p < 0.05) between age, gender, marital status, educational level and working experience and perceived knowledge of nurses with regards to immediate post-operative management in surgical units. The aforementioned covariates are contributing nearly 39% variance on the perceived knowledge of nurses. Similarly, a significant positive moderate relationship (r .590, p < 0.05) between the covariates and perceived practice of nurses was revealed with a variance of 35% on the outcome. Simple linear regression analysis was conducted and showed a weak positive correlation (0.379, p < 0.05) between perceived knowledge and practice of nurses with regards to immediate post-operative pain management in surgical wards in which the knowledge contributed to the observed practice at 14.4%.
Conclusion: Periodic continuance of professional development (CPD) with an emphasis on the skills needs to be conducted, monitored and evaluated by the hospital administration to enhance nurses’ skills in pain management for better patient outcomes.