간호사의 암성 통증관리 수행정도와 관련요인: 개인 및 병원 기관 요인

Factors Affecting Nurses' Pain Management for Cancer Patients: Personal and Hospital Institution Aspects

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine potential factors related to the management of cancer pain, that is, hospital institutional factors as well as personal aspects of nurses. Methods: This study was a descriptive research study in which 229 RNs working in 2 tertiary medical institutions in Seoul and 4 secondary medical institutions in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi were surveyed. Results: It was found that nurses' knowledge about pain intervention, their working division and their knowledge about the use of analgesics had different effects on their pharmacologic interventions. These 3 variables explained 14.5% of the variance regarding pharmacologic interventions. On the other hand, nurses' knowledge about pain interventions and nursing organization were variables affecting non-pharmacologic interventions by the nurses. These two variables explained 22.1% of the variance regarding non-pharmacologic interventions by the nurses. Conclusion: The findings indicate that nursing organization, one of hospital institutional factors, had significant effects on non-pharmacologic interventions. Therefore, to increase effective pain management by nurses, an organizational system should be established such as placement of nurse practitioners, improvement of nurses' autonomy in pain management, and development and distribution of standardized guidelines.