Abstract:
Background: Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or
potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage. This highlights that pain is not just
a physical sensation but an emotional experience too. In simple words, pain is what the patient
says, and hurts, which emphasizes the patient's experience.
Objective: To assess knowledge, attitude, practice, and associated factors toward pediatric pain
management among nurses at the pediatrics wards of Jimma University Medical Center (JUMC),
Jimma, Ethiopia.
Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among nurses working at
the pediatric wards of JUMC. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire. The collected
data was entered into Epi-Data version 4.6 and exported to statistical package for social sciences
(SPSS) version 27 for further analysis. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the data and
a multivariate logistic regression model was computed to see the association between
independent and dependent variables. The results are presented using narratives and tables.
Result: A total of 85 nurses were included in the study; morethan half of them (57, 67.1%) were
females. Over half of the participants had poor knowledge (44, 51.8%) and practice (47, 55.3%)
about pediatrics pain management. Male nurses had poor knowledge than female nurses
[p=0.001, AOR=0.241, 95% CI (0.070, 0.837)], and those nurse with age group from 31-40 had
poor knowledge than those with age group 20-30[p=0.001, AOR=0.214, 95% CI (0.075, 0.611)]
regarding pediatric pain management. Diploma holders have negative attitude toward pediatric
pain management than Master’s nurses [p=0.002, AOR=0.229 and 95% CI (0.054, 0.971),] and
nurses with 2-5 year experience had negative attitudes than those with experience >5 years’
[p=0.042, AOR=0.282 and 95% CI (0.102, 0.783)] regarding pediatric pain management. Nurses
in the age range of 31-40 years had poor practice when we compare with nurses who were on the
age range of 20-30 years old [p=0.001, AOR=0.214 and 95% CI (0.075, 0.611)], and nurses with
a diploma had poor practice compared to those with a master’s degree (p = 0.034, AOR = 0.179,
95% CI: 0.033, 0.969)
Conclusion and recommendation: Nurses working at pediatric ward of JUMC have poor
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knowledge and practice about pediatrics pain management but they have positive attitude. Thus,
the situation demands various educational and quality improvement initiatives that could
enhance the nurse‘s knowledge and practice in the area of pain management.
