Nurses’ Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice regarding Pain Management for Cancer Patients in Erbil City

Background and objectives: Pain is one of the main common manifestations of patients with cancer disease and its treatment that seek individuals to find medical treatment in clinics and hospitals. The study assessed nurses’ knowledge, attitude, and practice toward cancer pain management in Nanakali Hospital for Blood Diseases and Cancer and the chemotherapy department in Rizgary Teaching Hospitals. Methods: A cross- sectional study was carried out in Nanakali Hospital for Blood Diseases and Cancer and the chemotherapy department in Rizgary teaching hospitals from May 2020 to the end of November 2022 on a purposive sample which includes 64 nurses through applying self-administered questionnaires by using the Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain (KASRP) tool for assessment of knowledge and attitudes of nurses, and observational checklists for assessment of nurses’ practice toward pain. The data were analyzed using SPSS software for statistical analysis (Version 26) for calculating descriptive statistical analysis (Frequency, Percentage, Mean, and Standard Deviation). Results: study shows that less than half of nurses 42.2% were between 21-33 years of age, 59.4% were males, 78.1% had a diploma in nursing, 75% were formal employees, and 50% of them participated in training courses previously. In this study, the highest percentages of participants had fair knowledge and negative attitudes toward management of pain for cancer patients. They did not provide sufficient practice about non-pharmacological management of pain for cancer disease. Conclusion: Nurses who work in oncology wards had fair knowledge, negative attitudes and inadequate practice toward pain management for cancer patients. Therefore, it is important to do training courses for enhancing nurses’ knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding the management of pain.