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. 2016 Feb;10(1):8-21.
doi: 10.1177/2049463715583142. Epub 2015 May 13.

Assessing knowledge, perceptions and attitudes to pain management among medical and nursing students: a review of the literature

Andrew Ung  1 , Yenna Salamonson  2 , Wendy Hu  1 , Gisselle Gallego  3
Affiliations

Assessing knowledge, perceptions and attitudes to pain management among medical and nursing students: a review of the literature

Andrew Ung et al. Br J Pain. 2016 Feb.

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic pain results in significant personal, societal and economic burden. Doctors and nurses have a pivotal role in patient pain management. In order to determine the effectiveness of current pain education on knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of medical and nursing students, there needs to be a valid measure to assess and quantify these domains. We reviewed the literature to identify approaches for assessing knowledge, perceptions and attitudes to pain management among nursing and medical students.

Methods: Databases of peer-reviewed literature including CINAHL, EMBASE, ERIC, PsycInfo, Medline and PubMed were searched for articles published between 1993 and December 2014 using the following search terms: student, graduate, intern, junior, pain, pain management, analgesia, analgesic, pharmacology, pharmacological, knowledge, competence, attitude, preparedness, practice, nursing, medical, doctor, nurse.

Results: The search revealed over 3500 articles, and on application of the inclusion criteria, 26 articles were included in the review. A total of 14 instruments were used in these studies with the Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain (KASRP) as the main instrument in 9 out of the 26 articles. The various instruments used different question formats such as multiple-choice questions (MCQs), true/false statements and Likert scales that went from 3 points to 7 points. Clinical skills examinations were also used in four studies to assess pain management.

Conclusion: There is no gold standard instrument currently used to assess knowledge, perceptions and attitudes to pain management. The results of this review showed, despite the diversity of standardised instruments that have been used to assess knowledge, perceptions and attitude to pain management, the literature has consistently reported that knowledge about pain management among nursing and medical students was generally poor among both groups.

Keywords: Pain management; assessment; knowledge; medical students; nursing students.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow chart showing identification of individual studies for inclusion.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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