Current practice and perception of barriers in the use of Evidence-Based Practice by a nurse in the optimum pain treatment in the elderly - preliminary study

Advances in the study of pain and the methods for its relief since the late 1980s have led to a rise in the role of the nurse in pain management and monitoring. The application of Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) related to acute pain is on the increase in the world at large. The purpose of this study is to describe current practices, perceived barriers and perceived facilitators of Polish nurses on using EBP) for assessing and managing acute pain in postoperative older adults on the basis of the Acute Pain Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire for Gerontological Nursing (APEBPQ). The project involved 1300 nurses working on surgical hospital wards. A mixed method, a descriptive exploratory survey and a qualitative content analysis, were used. Study was conducted using the Acute Pain Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire for Gerontological Nursing. Range of responses concerned (and was) the assessment of knowledge, needs, skills and deployment context of Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) (medium range = 3.04-4.06), use of sources of knowledge about pain and its treatment (mean range = 2.80-4.05), the assessment of current practice in assessing and controlling pain in elderly patients (mean range = 2.64-4.24), the assessment of obstacles for the evidence-based practice (medium range = 2.82-3.54), and the assessment of the extent to which people working with nurses are useful in the practice of evidence-based (medium range = 2.96-3.32). Nurses’ awareness of EBP and use of current practices related to pain assessment and management in elderly patients increases with their level of education. One of the major problems hindering the use of EBP is not enough available professional literature in Polish literature for nurses, unfamiliarity with the English language, lack of time, as well as a lack of support from the Head of the Department.