Assessment of the knowledge and attitudes of the nurses working in Al-Najaf teaching hospitals on pain management

The aim of this study was to evaluate nurses' knowledge and attitudes towards pain management. 216 nurses participated; they worked in the internal medicine and surgery departments, emergency and intensive care units of Al-Najaf educational hospitals. The study was conducted as a descriptive cross-sectional study. A face-to-face interview Questionnaire by a standardized protocol and set of responses were used to collect data about the Nurses' Knowledge and Attitude on pain. The years of employment of 83.8% of the nurses were between 1-10 years and the average years of employment was 6.44±5.47. When nurses were evaluated in terms of their knowledge and attitude levels, age groups, gender, educational status, years of experience, and fields of study, no statistically significant difference was observed between age groups, gender, educational status, years of experience, fields of study, and knowledge and attitude levels (p>0.05). Nurses were found to be more knowledgeable about pain assessment and management at a moderate level. As a result,implementations to improve nurses' knowledge and attitudes towards pain management should be supported.