An Analysis of Italian Nurses’ Approach to Patients’ Pain: A Nationwide Online Survey

Table 2

Evaluation of pain according to geographic areas.

Variable	Total responders		Northwest		Northeast		Central		South
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Pain is seen as the fifth vital parameter. Is this the case in your working place?
Yes	665	95.5	149	88.1	173	81.2	87	70.1	110	69.1
No			20	11.8	40	18.8	37	29.9	49	30.8	<0.0001
How frequently do you assess pain in your hospital?
When requested by the patient	664	95.4	56	33.1	65	30.5	53	42.7	97	61.4
At patient’s admission in the ward			46	27.2	57	26.8	27	21.8	26	16.5	<0.0001
Once			15	8.9	16	7.5	6	4.8	2	1.2
Twice			51	30.2	70	32.9	31	25.0	24	15.1
Never			1	0.6	5	2.3	7	5.7	9	5.7
Do you know the scales for pain evaluation?
Yes	665	95.5	162	95.9	203	95.3	115	92.7	110	69.2
No			7	4.1	10	4.7	9	7.3	49	30.8	<0.0001
If yes, which do you know?
VAS	590		137	84.6	161	79.3	98	85.2	85	77.27
V-NRS			19	11.7	38	18.7	9	7.8	8	7.2	0.0002
McGill pain questionnaire			3	1.8	1	0.5	3	2.6	5	4.6
BPI			0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	1	0.9
Qualitative scales			3	1.9	3	1.5	5	4.3	11	10.0
Do you usually apply the scales for pain evaluation?
Yes	665	95.5	137	81.0	180	84.5	90	72.6	59	37.1
No			32	18.9	33	15.5	34	27.4	100	62.9	<0.0001
If no why?
Do you recognize the complaining patient?	207		19	48.7	8	24.2	7	20.6	28	27.7
I have no time			4	10.3	4	12.1	5	14.7	15	14.8	0.005
It is not my job			2	5.1	2	6.1	3	8.8	18	17.8
Nobody asked me to do that			4	10.3	5	15.2	3	8.8	23	22.8
Others			10	25.6	4	42.4	16	7.1	17	16.8
Does the evaluation scale affect the subsequent assistance plans?
Yes	665	95.5	149	88.2	189	88.7	110	88.7	120	75.5
No			20	11.8	24	11.3	14	11.3	39	24.5	0.0009
Are you aware about devices or invasive procedures for pain treatment?
Yes	665	95.5	87	51.5	118	55.4	48	38.7	67	42.1
No			82	48.5	95	44.6	76	61.3	92	57.9	0.007
Does a reference person for pain management exist in your hospital ward?
Yes, a physician	665	95.5	49	29.0	45	21.1	39	31.5	73	45.9
Yes, a nurse			12	7.1	26	12.2	7	5.7	2	1.3	<0.0001
Yes, both physician and nurse			24	14.2	67	31.5	14	11.2	8	5.0
No reference person is present			84	49.7	75	35.2	64	51.6	76	47.8
Are you aware about the existence of a law prescribing as mandatory the measurement of pain?
Yes	664	95.4	145	85.8	187	87.8	103	83.1	97	61.4
No			24	14.2	26	2.2	21	16.9	61	38.6	<0.0001
Are, in your opinion, problems related to pain sufficiently taken into account by care providers in your working department?
Yes	665	95.5	97	57.4	128	60.1	72	58.1	101	63.5
No			72	42.6	85	39.9	52	41.9	58	36.5	0.69

VAS, visual analogue scale; V-NRS, verbal numeric rating scale; BPI, brief pain inventor.