Effect of Nurses’ Awareness on Myocardial Infarction Pain Management

Background: Awareness of healthcare providers (especially nurses) about common medical problems is an important issue in realizing the significant effects of pain physiology. Pain management in myocardial infarction is a major responsibility of nurses, which can be accomplished through care provision for patients. Nurses’ age, type of employment, and other factors such as work experience have great impacts on the efficacy of pain management and the related parameters. Objectives: To determine the level of nurses’ awareness about pain management in myocardial infarction as a critical care issue, based on the clinical data. Methods: This descriptive cross sectional study was carried out in teaching hospitals, affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. In this study, 200 nurses were selected as the participants. The data collection tool was a questionnaire consisting of 2 parts. The demographic and awareness sections of the questionnaire consisted of 10 modules of the Faculty of Medicine. The selection criterion was defined to identify the validity and reliability of actual care implementation. Each nurse was evaluated in the morning, afternoon, and evening shifts in a live response manner to determine the level of care provision. It took 20 minutes to complete the questionnaire. Dishonesty in responding to the questionnaire (predefined) was controlled and eliminated. For data analysis, statistical tests including independent t test were performed, using SPSS version 21. Results: Based on the findings, the nurses’ knowledge (skills and expertise) about myocardial infarction pain management had a significant relationship with their consciousness, type of employment (P = 0.022), and sex (P = 0.024). Conclusions: The results showed that sex and type of employment play effective roles in myocardial infarction pain management.