Do surgical patients' characteristics and behaviours affect nurses' pain management decisions? A qualitative inquiry

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Despite a growing body of literature investigating the impact of patients' age and sex differences on pain, there is little research on how patients' characteristics and behaviours affect nurses' pain management decisions.
This study examined surgical nurses' views and experiences toward pain management in relation to the patients' characteristics and behaviours in a Jordanian university hospital.
Focus group discussions (n = 4) were used with a convenience sample of 27 female Registered Nurses.
The study revealed differences in postoperative pain management related to patients' characteristics. Male patients were seen as more tolerant of postoperative pain than female patients and thus required less nursing attention. As a consequence, nurses might assess female surgical patients inaccurately or judgementally. Nurses label female patients as “demanding” or “over‐sensitive” without intending to be judgemental. Nurses also reported that patients accompanied by relatives received quicker nursing responses and closer monitoring than unaccompanied patients.
If patients' pain following surgery is to be treated effectively, health care policymakers and educators should work together to eliminate and prevent potential biases that might lead to disparities in pain management.
What is already known about this topic?

Postsurgical pain is still the most common complaint verbalized by patients and remains a largely unrecognized clinical problem.
Registered Nurses in the postoperative setting play a vital role in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of pain management interventions.
Experimental evidence has revealed some contradictions in whether pain perceptions among patients are related to age and gender; thus, there is a need to explore the views of those in pain management decisions.

What this paper adds?

This is the first qualitative study to examine the views of surgical nurses towards their pain management decisions that considers patient characteristics.
Male patients were deemed more tolerant of post‐operative pain than the female patients and thus requiring less nursing attention.
The study revealed that nurses might carry inaccurate perceptions towards female surgical patients, which could be seen in the form of judgemental labelling of these patients.

The implications of this paper:

The study emphasizes the need to employ a multidisciplinary strategy to enhance the status of surgical patient status and consideration of their circumstances including gender, age, sociocultural, and policy factors that might influence nurses' decisions and practice in pain management.
Family caregivers need education about pain management and acknowledgement from surgical nurses about their role in pain management.