Exploration of Pain Management Process among Health Care Providers Working in Surgical Units at Kibagabaga Hospital

Abstract: Pain management is understood to be a fundamental human right, and has to be accomplished in steps such as pain assessment, identification of the cause, treatment, and monitoring. However, worldwide many patients are still suffering from unrelieved pain. This study is aimed to explore the process of pain management among health care provider working in surgical units at Kibagabaga Hospital. Descriptive cross-sectional design was used in this study where 40 health care providers working in surgical unit at Kibagabaga district hospital were selected purposively as the study participants. Self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data.  Descriptive statistics was used in analysis by the use of SPSS version 16.0. Data analysis disclosed that 45% of participants fulfill all the steps for the process of pain management with a significant association to experience. Diclofenac was the analgesia most used (97.5%), and lack of clinical guidelines cited by 72.5% of participants, was the frequent challenge identified contributing to poor pain management.

The findings of this study indicate that there gaps in respecting the process of pain management which may lead to inadequate pain management and continuous professional development was indicated to improve the process of pain management in surgical units at Kibagabaga hospital.

Keywords: pain, process, pain management, health care providers