Nurses' experiences from pain management in children in Iranian culture: A phenomenology study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Management pain in hospitalized children is challenging for the health-care professionals. Nurses have the most interactions with children who need to assess and manage for their pain. Therefore, the aim was to describe nurses' experiences from pain management among hospitalized children from Iranian culture in this study. METHODS: A phenomenological study was conducted in which 23 nurses working in an educational hospital in Isfahan-Iran. The nurses participated in interviews based on a purposeful sampling method. RESULTS: Participants' experiences were categorized into three major themes and twelve subthemes including the nurses' ability of detection of the pain nature, reaction to pain management and belief in pain relief. CONCLUSIONS: The research showed that the nurses have valuable experiences in pain management in their workplaces. Their descriptions were based on the use of three domains that consist of knowledge, belief, and practice. Therefore, it is vital to focus on the subject of pain in nursing curriculum and guidelines in hospitals. A more extensive research is needed to demonstrate perceived barriers to pain management.