I. Background and Purpose
Postoperative pain is an acute symptom experienced by most surgical patients, and inadequate management can lead to various negative outcomes including delayed recovery, increased complications, and progression to chronic pai...
I. Background and Purpose
Postoperative pain is an acute symptom experienced by most surgical patients, and inadequate management can lead to various negative outcomes including delayed recovery, increased complications, and progression to chronic pain. Effective pain management requires nurses' accurate knowledge, positive attitudes, and patient-centered approaches. However, there is limited research comprehensively examining how these factors influence actual performance in postoperative acute pain management settings.
This study aimed to identify the current status of postoperative pain management performance among surgical nurses and to analyze the effects of postoperative pain management knowledge, attitudes, and patient-centered care on performance, thereby providing foundational data for developing effective pain management programs.
II. Methods
This descriptive correlational study collected data from 106 nurses with clinical experience of 6 months or more working in surgical wards, intensive care units, and recovery rooms at a tertiary hospital in Incheon from August 11 to 18, 2025, using structured questionnaires.
The research instruments included postoperative pain management knowledge (NKASRP-based, 13 items), postoperative pain management attitudes (41 items), patient-centered care (K-PCC, 23 items), and postoperative pain management performance (19 items). Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 28.0 with descriptive statistics, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and hierarchical regression analysis.
III. Results
The mean score for postoperative pain management performance was 3.37 out of 4 points. By sub-domain, pain assessment scored 3.46, pain evaluation 3.44, and pain intervention 3.24, indicating that pain intervention was the lowest. The mean score for postoperative pain management knowledge was 9.65 out of 13 points (74.2% correct response rate), postoperative pain management attitudes averaged 3.11 out of 4 points, and patient-centered care averaged 3.78 out of 5 points.
Analysis of differences according to general characteristics showed that postoperative pain management performance differed significantly by clinical experience in surgical departments (t=3.16, p=.006), current department (F=9.17, p<.001), and pain management education (t=-2.99, p=.005). Notably, nurses with over 5 years of experience showed lower performance than those with 5 years or less, and by department, performance levels were highest in the intensive care unit, followed by wards and recovery rooms.
Correlation analysis revealed that postoperative pain management performance had a significant positive correlation with patient-centered care (r=.71, p<.001), and postoperative pain management knowledge showed a significant positive correlation with postoperative pain management attitudes (r=.64, p=.033).
Hierarchical regression analysis identified that factors influencing postoperative pain management performance were patient-centered care (β=.63, p<.001), postoperative pain management knowledge (β=.15, p=.033), current department (β=.16, p=.018), and clinical experience in surgical departments (β=-.16, p=.026), with the total model explaining 56.8% of the variance (F=20.70, p<.001). Patient-centered care was the most influential factor.
IV. Conclusion
This study confirmed that postoperative pain management performance among surgical nurses was most closely related to patient-centered care, and that postoperative pain management knowledge, current department, and clinical experience in surgical departments also had significant effects. This suggests that enhancing patient-centered care competency is essential for effective postoperative pain management, along with improving individual nurses' knowledge.
Therefore, systematic educational programs should be developed to strengthen nurses' postoperative pain management knowledge and enhance patient-centered care competency. Particularly, regular continuing education programs for nurses with over 5 years of experience should be prioritized, and department-specific pain management protocols and organizational support should be implemented together. Additionally, when comprehensive organizational interventions such as establishing unified pain management systems, operating dedicated acute pain service teams, and promoting interprofessional collaboration are implemented alongside education emphasizing patient-centered care approaches that identify and respond to individual patient needs, postoperative pain management performance for surgical patients can be effectively improved.