Het effect van ziekenhuisafdeling en opleidingsniveau van verpleegkundigen op het behandelen van pun bij kinderen

Effective implementation of an evidence based pain policy for children is affected by nurses' knowledge of, attitudes towards and self-efficacy in the management of pain in children. By means of a validated multiple choice questionnaire the knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy of nurses towards children in pain were investigated. Despite the fact that nurses from different departments have to deal with pain in children, previous research on nurses' management of pain in children is rather one-sided focused on nurses working on pediatric wards. The convenience sample of this study consisted of 550 nurses working on pediatric ward or emergency department of 16 Flemish hospitals. This study demonstrates some important deficits in the knowledge base, attitudes and self-efficacy of nurses. The results support the finding that nurses' knowledge deficits are mainly situated within the area of pharmacological usage. Compared to nurses from emergency department, nurses from pediatric wards have significantly higher scores on selfefficacy, but not on knowledge and attitudes. As for knowledge and attitudes, nurses with an educational level higher than bachelor score better than nurses with a lower level of education. However, this is not the case as far as self-efficacy is concerned. Since the results of this investigation show that both nursing department and educational level influence nurses management of pain in children, these factors should be taken in consideration for the implementation of an evidence based pain policy towards children.