Assestment of student nurses' knowledge levels regarding pain management

Aim: This study is planned as descriptive to assess the student nurses' knowledge levels concerning pain management and to make suggestions concerning pain management education in nursing undergraduate study. Material and Method: The research was practiced on 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade students of nursing college in a foundation university situated at European side of İstanbul. As data collection tool, information forms are prepared by the researcher are used. These forms are applied to the students with the permission received by the foundation and ethical committee. Data is assessed by using SPSS 16.0 software.The distribution of pain management information scores is given and the scores are compared with gap analysis according to socio-demographic characteristics, pain experiences and pain management abilities of the student nurses. Relations between the scores were calculated. Results: 83,5% of the student nurses were female (n=213),16,5% were male (n=42), 97,6% were single (249), 2,4% were married (n=6), 29,4% were at second grade (n=75), 34,9% were at third grade (n=89), 35,7% were at fourth grade (n=91). It is determined that assessment of personal health condition changes from 1 to 10 and mean value is 6,84 ± 2,02. Pain Management Information Form scores are statistically significant when compared to gender of the participants, type of high school graduated, schooling related to pain, have training on pain management apart from university lessons. Conclusion: It is determined there is a need to raise the student nurses' pain management knowledge. Some suggestions are made about the subject of pain management to take part in the hands-on training programssystematically in the undergraduate nursing education. Key Words: Pain, pain management, nurse, student nurse.