Hospitalized patients' pain experience before and after the introduction of a nurse-based pain management programme: a separate sample pre and post study.

backgroundMany patients suffer from unrelieved pain in hospital settings. Nurses have a pivotal role in pain management. Hence, a nurse-based pain management programme may influence how hospitalized patients experience pain. In this study we investigated hospitalized patients' experience of pain before and after the introduction of a two-component nurse-based pain management programme.

methodsA quasi-experimental design with a separate sample pretest-posttest approach was conducted on a convenience sample of 845 patients (Survey 1:

resultsAll the samples had similar sociocultural backgrounds. The proportion of patients who reported average moderate and severe pain intensity in the last 24 h were 68.8% in Survey 1, 72.8% in Survey 2 and then dropped to 48.53% in Survey 3 whereas those who reported moderate and severe pain intensity at the time of interview were 53.9% in Survey 1, 57.1% in Survey 2 and then dropped to 37.1% in Survey 3. The mean pain interference with the physical and emotional function was generally reduced across the surveys after the introduction of the nurse-based pain management programme. These reductions were statistically significant with

conclusionsThough the survey findings must be taken with caution, they demonstrate that the nurse-based pain management programme positively influenced patient-reported pain intensity and functional interference at the university medical center. This shows the potential clinical importance of the programme for hospitalized patients.