article · Frontiers in Pediatrics
Managing pain in children is an essential healthcare duty where nurses play a central role. A multi-site survey assessed the knowledge and attitudes of 292 nurses across four hospitals in the South Gondar Zone of Ethiopia using a standardised paediatric pain survey instrument. The findings revealed that almost three quarters of the surveyed nurses lacked adequate knowledge and attitudes regarding paediatric pain care, recording an average accuracy score of just over 43 percent. Scores were significantly higher among nurses with more paediatric nursing experience and those who had received official pain management training. Because overall competence levels were determined to be insufficient, structured in-service training programmes are recommended to address these gaps and improve pain management standards in paediatric settings.
Proper pain management is critical to paediatric care, yet healthcare professionals often lack the required preparation. This assessment shows substantial knowledge deficits among clinical nurses in regional hospitals. Identifying these shortcomings provides evidence for hospital administrators and health authorities to prioritise targeted, continuous training interventions, which can directly improve patient care and comfort.
The abstract does not indicate a commercialisation pathway, as it focuses on clinical knowledge assessment and the need for hospital-based in-service training programmes.
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Background Adequate children’s pain management is universally considered an ethical obligation. In evaluating and treating children’s pain, nurses invest more time and take a leading role. This study aims to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of nurses towards the treatment of pediatric pain. Materials and Methods A total of 292 nurses working at four South Gondar Zone hospitals of Ethiopia was surveyed. To gather information from study participants, the Pediatric Nurses’ -Knowledge and Attitudes- Survey Regarding Pain (PNKAS) was employed. Frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation of the data were used for descriptive analysis, while Pearson correlation, one-way between-groups analysis of variance, and independent-samples t-test were used for inferential analysis. Results A large percentage of nurses (74.7%) lacked adequate knowledge and attitudes (PNKAS score <50%) for pediatric pain treatment. The mean ± SD accurate response score of 43.1% ± 8.6% was achieved by nurses. An increase in pediatrics nursing experience was significantly correlated with nurses’ PNKAS score ( p < 0.001). The mean PNKAS scores of nurses who had official pain management training differed in a statistically significant way as compared to its counterpart ( p < 0.001). Conclusion Nurses who are working South Gondar Zone of Ethiopia have insufficient knowledge and attitudes towards treatment of pediatric pain. Therefore, pediatric pain treatment in-service training is urgently needed.
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DOI: 10.3389/fped.2023.1182529
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