Determinants of Knowledge of Pain among Nurses in a Tertiary Hospital in Spain

BACKGROUND Poorly controlled pain in patients is related to several complications, such as increased nosocomial infections and mortality, where nurses play a crucial role. AIMS To analyze determinants of pain as well as nurses' knowledge and attitudes towards pain in the inpatient services of a tertiary center in the Spanish public health network. METHODS The Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain questionnaire was administered to all nurses in the center from January to March 2019. Additional sociodemographic variables, such as gender, age, employment status, work experience, professional group, and academic degree, were collected and analyzed. Item Response Theory was used for discriminant analysis of each question and its relationship with the final score. RESULTS A total of 282 questionnaires were collected from those distributed among nurses working in medical, surgical, oncological, and intensive care services. The average score obtained on pain-related knowledge and attitudes was 58.89%. We found significant differences (p < .001) between the KASRP score and the professional group score. There were no differences in final score based on academic level or age. Questions related to pharmacology resulted in low scores and did not discriminate between levels of knowledge, being considered difficult. We did not find items that allowed discriminating between levels of knowledge. CONCLUSIONS A knowledge gap exists regarding nurses' pharmacological and assessment concepts, and there are differences in knowledge depending on professional group. The KASRP allows for a good discrimination of low levels of knowledge.