POSTOPERATIVE PAIN: MANAGEMENT AND DOCUMENTATION BY IRANIAN NURSES

BACKGROUND: Pain is one of the most common symptoms experienced by patients after surgeries. Inadequate postoperative pain management is an international problem and the need to improve its management is well documented. The aim of the study was to assess nursing reports related to the patients’ pain intensity and quality, concomitant symptoms, use of scales in pain assessment, and compliance with the national guideline after surgery. METHODS: This study was a retrospective cohort; samples were nurse records of patients who had elective surgery. RESULT: Only 6% of the patients’ pain records included pain intensity which was not measured with standard scales. More than half of all injections were opioid analgesic which is in contrast to the guidelines of the Iranian Ministry of Health. Pain assessment was higher in women and by nurses with more than 15 years of working experience. CONCLUSION: to conclude, the patients’ pain was not assessed properly in terms of intensity, quality, and associated symptoms. Therefore, training and motivating nurses is very important in this context and should be incorporated in nurses’ academic and continuous educational courses.