05 October, 2015
Pain is a personal experience but may be difficult to communicate. It is vital that nurses know how best to assess it to ensure the optimal treatment is given Abstract Pain affects patients physically and emotionally, so successfully managing the pain they experience is a key component of their recovery. This third article in a series on pain looks at why it is important to assess pain in adults and how this can best be done. The causes and symptoms of chronic and acute pain are detailed, along with the different assessment tools that can be used and for which patients they are suitable. Citation: Swift A (2015) Pain management 3: the importance of assessing pain in adults. Nursing Times; 11: 41, 12-17. Author: Amelia Swift is senior lecturer in nursing at the University of Birmingham. This article has been double-blind peer reviewed Scroll down to read the article or download a print-friendly PDF here Click here to see other articles in this series
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Gender | (N = 256) | (N = 259) | (N = 267) | |||
Male | 125 (48.8) | 139 (53.7) | 134 (50.2) | 0.274 | 0.757 | 0.426 |
Female | 131 (51.2) | 120 (46.3) | 133 (49.1) | |||
Address | (N = 247) | (N = 237) | (N = 263) | |||
Urban | 169 (68.4) | 164 (69.2) | 173 (65.8) | 0.808 | 0.528 | 0.418 |
Rural | 78 (31.6) | 73 (30.8) | 90 (34.2) | |||
Educational level | (N = 253) | (N = 253) | (N = 266) | |||
Had no formal education | 151 (59.7) | 150 (59.3) | 171 (64.3) | 0.928 | 0.282 | 0.243 |
Had formal education | 102 (40.3) | 103 (40.7) | 95 (35.7) | |||
Occupation | (N = 253) | (N = 253) | (N = 266) | |||
Farmer | 151 (59.9) | 133 (51.8) | 148 (55.4) | 0.168 | 0.366 | 0.074 |
Government employee | 28 (11.1) | 44 (17.1) | 29 (10.9) | |||
Self-employed | 36 (14.3) | 41 (16.0) | 35 (13.1) | |||
Unemployed | 37 (14.7) | 39 (15.2) | 55 (20.6) | |||
Unit of admission | (N = 256) | (N = 259) | (N = 267) | |||
Surgical | 133 (52.0) | 104 (40.2) | 98 (36.7) | 0.008 | 0.001 | 0.831 |
Medical | 86 (33.6) | 89 (34.4) | 101 (37.8) | |||
Gynaecology | 20 (7.8) | 34 (13.1) | 34 (12.7) | |||
Maternity | 17 (6.6) | 32 (12.4) | 34 (12.7) |
- a Critical value when proportions were compared using WINPEPI, using a comparison of two independent samples