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Pain in Children: Knowledge and Perceptions of the Nursing Staff at a Rural Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in India

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Abstract

Objectives

To assess the knowledge and perception regarding pain amongst nursing staff and to determine whether varying clinical exposure to painful procedures in children had any association with their perception of pain.

Methods

A consensually validated questionnaire containing combination of questions from basic (must know) and advanced (nice to know) areas of knowledge about nursing pediatric patients and questions related to nurses' perception about pain in pediatric patients was administered to the eligible nursing staff at a Rural Tertiary Care Hospital in Western India. The responses to the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the comparisons were made by applying chi-square test.

Results

Three Hundred and Fifty one usable questionnaires (83.37 %) out of 421 were returned. The knowledge of the nurses in general regarding pain was observed to be poor. Only 60 % of all the nurses had complete knowledge of all the basic questions asked. Only 3.1 % had answered all of the five advanced questions correctly, while 96.9 % of the nurses had answered one or more questions incorrectly.

Conclusions

The deficit in knowledge and shortcomings in perception of nursing staff needs to be addressed and steps need to be taken to improve the nurse's knowledge and modify beliefs and attitude of the nursing staff towards the pain of the pediatric patients.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Mr. Ajay Phatak, Manager, Central Research Services, Karasmad for critically reviewing the paper. They would also like to thank the in-charge nurses and the nursing staff of Shri Krishna Hospital, Karamsad.

Contributions

ASN; designed the study, refined the questionnaire and wrote the paper. ARD; designed the questionnaire, collected data and wrote the paper. JDG; analyzed the study, helped interpret the findings and wrote the paper. SMN; conceived the study, designed the study, planned the analysis and provided critical inputs in the write-up and will act as guarantor for the paper.

Conflict of Interest

None.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neonatal Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Pramukhswami Medical College, Karamsad, Anand, Gujarat, 388325, India

    Archana S. Nimbalkar, Ashish R. Dongara & Somashekhar M. Nimbalkar

  2. Central Research Services, Charutar Arogya Mandal, Karamsad, Anand, Gujarat, India

    Jaishree D. Ganjiwale & Somashekhar M. Nimbalkar

Authors
  1. Archana S. Nimbalkar
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  2. Ashish R. Dongara
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  3. Jaishree D. Ganjiwale
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  4. Somashekhar M. Nimbalkar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Somashekhar M. Nimbalkar.

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Nimbalkar, A.S., Dongara, A.R., Ganjiwale, J.D. et al. Pain in Children: Knowledge and Perceptions of the Nursing Staff at a Rural Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in India. Indian J Pediatr 80, 470–475 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-012-0848-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-012-0848-z

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