Knowledge of Senior Nursing Students about Pain Management in Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Nurses' knowledge and experience in pain management have an essential role in preventing the patient from suffering pain and maintaining comfort. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge level of senior nursing students about pain management in the intensive care unit. It is a descriptive and cross-sectional study. Necessary consent and permissions were obtained for the study. The study was based on the STROBE checklist and complied with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The research data were collected face-to-face between 26.04.2018 and 31.04.2018. The data were collected through the "Form for Measuring the Level of Knowledge on Pain Management in Intensive Care Unit-PICU" prepared by the researchers. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistical analyses (frequency, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, percentage). For difference analysis, a t-test was used for two independent variables, and a One-way ANOVA test was used for the analysis of more than two independent variables. The number of participants was 128. It was observed that the students included in the study were between the ages of 20 and 32. The total scores of the PICU ranged between 16 and 57 (form score range 0-60), and the mean score was 46.46 ± 7.428. It was observed that the difference between the participants' academic achievement and willingness to choose the profession and the total scores of the PICU was statistically significant (p