Postoperative Pain Management among Registered Nurses in a Vietnamese Hospital

Table 2

Pain management practices among nurses.

Characteristics	n	%
Types of pain experienced in care
Acute pain	17	18.9
Chronic pain	5	5.6
Both	57	63.3
None	11	12.2
Types of patients receiving assessment
Based on physicians’ order	25	27.8
Based on self-identified	18	20.0
All patients	30	33.3
Patients who compulsorily required pain assessment	14	15.6
Time for pain assessment
Consistent time interval	28	31.1
When patients report pain	54	60.0
During monitoring phase	16	22.2
During care phase	34	37.8
Others	2	2.2
Knowing basic side effects of pain relief medications
No	1	1.1
Some side effects	41	45.6
Most side effects	45	50.0
All side effects	3	3.3
Regular pain assessment	75	83.3
Method to measure pain
Ask patients a simple question	59	65.6
Using assessment tool (numeric rating scale)	29	32.2
Others	3	3.3
Frequency of monitoring side effects
None	3	3.3
Rarely	18	20.0
Usually	63	70.0
Always	6	6.7
Frequency of pain assessment when changing patient’s position
None	6	6.7
Rarely	12	13.3
Usually	58	64.4
Always	14	15.6
Frequency of collecting patients’ self-reported pain information
None	0	0.0
Rarely	14	15.6
Usually	67	74.4
Always	9	10.0
Frequency of care plan change due to pain assessment
None	4	4.4
Rarely	8	8.9
Usually	68	75.6
Always	10	11.1
	Mean	SD
Practice score (0–13)	8.4	1.7