C. Mackintosh et S. Bowles, The effect of an acute pain service on nurses' knowledge and beliefs aboutpost-operative pain, J CLIN NURS, 9(1), 2000, pp. 119-126
The management of post-operative pain has been an area of concern for many
years, with many studies focusing on the knowledge and beliefs of nurses wo
rking in this area.
Following the report of the Royal College of Surgeons & College of Anaesthe
tists (1990) in the UK, there has been a rapid expansion in the development
of Acute Pain Services (APS) in an attempt to counter these concerns.
This descriptive study considers the possible impact the introduction of an
APS had on the knowledge and beliefs of nurses working in the surgical are
a.
A closed-answer questionnaire was used to replicate an earlier study (Macki
ntosh, 1994) which took place before the introduction of the APS.
Findings demonstrate a consistent but mainly statistically non-significant
trend in all areas towards an improved knowledge base and more appropriate
beliefs about pain.