Nurses' attitudes and practices in sickle cell pain management

Professional objectivity should be the primary focus of patient care. Health care professionals are at times reluctant to give opioids out of fear that patients may become addicted, which would result in the undertreatment of pain. The influence of nurses' attitudes on the management of sickle...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied nursing research 2001-11, Vol.14 (4), p.187-192
Main Authors: Pack-Mabien, Ardie, Labbe, E., Herbert, D., Haynes, J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Analgesics, Opioid - therapeutic use
Anemia, Sickle Cell - drug therapy
Anemia, Sickle Cell - nursing
Attitude of Health Personnel
Clinical Competence
Humans
Nursing Staff, Hospital - education
Nursing Staff, Hospital - psychology
Nursing Staff, Hospital - standards
Opioid-Related Disorders
Statistics, Nonparametric
United States
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Professional objectivity should be the primary focus of patient care. Health care professionals are at times reluctant to give opioids out of fear that patients may become addicted, which would result in the undertreatment of pain. The influence of nurses' attitudes on the management of sickle cell pain was studied. The variables of age, education, area of practice, and years of active experience were considered. Of the respondents, 63% believed addiction was prevalent, and 30% were hesitant to administer high-dose opioids. Study findings suggest that nurses would benefit from additional education on sickle cell disease, pain assessment and management, and addiction. Educational recommendations are discussed.
ISSN:0897-1897
1532-8201
DOI:10.1053/apnr.2001.26783