Pain assessment in intensive care patients and knowledge and behaviors associated with the pain of intensive care nurses

ABSTRACT Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the pain levels of the patients who are conscious and unconscious in the intensive care unit(ICU) and to examine the information and behaviors of the intensive care nurses about pain. Materials and Methods: Between May 2018 and October 2018, the patients who were treated in surgical and anesthesia ICU (n = 60) and nurses working in ICU (n = 72) were included in the study. The data were collected by using the 'Patient Information Form', 'Critical Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT)', 'Patient Physiological Pain Evaluation Form', 'Nurse Information Form', 'Nurses Knowledge and Behavioral Questionnaire'. For statistical analyis of the data, frequency, percentage distribution, Mann-Whitney UTest, Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test and Spearman Correlation analysis tests were performed in 'SPSS 22.0 Program'. Findings: In the research; 63.3% of the conscious patients are over 55 years of old and 67.3 % are male, 60 % of the unconscious patients are over 55 years old and 66.7 are male. The mean score of CPOT for conscious and unconscious patients is 4 and higher than 4. It was determined that the pain scores of the patients during injection, endotracheal aspiration, position change, wound care and catheter application are higher than before and the difference is statistically significant. 62.5% of the intensive care nurses who participated to the research are 30 years old and younger. It was revealed that the nurses knowledge about pain was moderate. It was observed that the nurses used pain assessment scale while evaluating pain in intensive care patients, but only 21.6% of the nurses used behavioral pain scale. Conclusion: It was determined that pain level of the conscious and unconscious patients trated in ICU, during care and treatment application, increase and change in their physiological parameters. In addition, it was observed that the level of knowledge of nurses working in ICU about the pain was moderate. Keywords: Intensive care, pain, nursing