Pain is one of the commonest reasons why children visit the hospital. Inadequately treated pain in children can negatively\naffect their physical, psychological, and social well-being; it also places financial burden on families of affected children and\nhealthcare systems in general. Considering the eventual suffering of vulnerable children and their families if nursing students\nare insufficiently educated and ill-prepared, the current study aimed at assessing final year nursing studentâ??s knowledge and\nattitudes pertaining to pediatric pain. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 100 final year undergraduate\nnursing students at a private university college in Ghana. In addition to their ages and gender, the students responded to the\n42 individual items on the Pediatric Nursesâ?? Knowledge and Attitudes Survey regarding pain (PNKAS) instrument. Descriptive\nstatistical analysis was aided by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25 software. The mean age of the\nfinal year nursing students was 29 years (range of 21 to 47 years); a majority of them were females (78%). Participants had an\naverage (SD) correct answer score of 44.0% (10.6%). Good pediatric pain knowledge and attitudes were observed in items that\nwere related to the individualized and multidimensional nature of the pain experience and its treatment, benefits of preemptive\nanalgesia, pharmacodynamics, and pain assessment. Poor pediatric pain knowledge and attitudes occurred in items\nthat focused on pain perceptions, opioid drug administration, useful pain medications, pain physiology, and nonpharmacological\npain management interventions. Final year nursing students have insufficient knowledge and attitudes\ntoward childrenâ??s pain management. Areas of good and poor pediatric pain knowledge and attitudes should be considered\nwhen designing and implementing educational interventions on this subject. Curricular revisions should be made on existing\nnursing curriculum to lay more emphasis on childrenâ??s pain management and use educational interventions that support\nknowledge translation for improved care.
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