Nurses’ Experience of Pain Management in Patients Referred to the Emergency Department

Considering that the experience of nurses in pain management in patients in the emergency department is a reflection of their feelings, thoughts and attitudes in this regard, identification of their experiences can be the basis for dealing with the challenges. The present study was conducted to explain the experiences of nurses regarding pain management in patients referred to the emergency department. In this qualitative study, 14 nurses working in emergency departments of hospitals affiliated to the Tehran University of Medical Sciences participated through purposive sampling. The data were collected through individual, in-depth and semi-structured interviews and were simultaneously analyzed by conventional content analysis after transcribing the interviews. Based on the data analysis, two themes of "challenges and barriers to pain management" and "right to patient-centered pain relief" were extracted. The results indicate the existence of challenges such as limited authority, inefficient supervision, and etc. in organizational‐professional areas such as fear about side effects, negligence, and etc. in the domain of human factors. Pain relief was also found as a fundamental right that requires patient-centered care. Based on the results of this study, despite the numerous challenges in pain management in the emergency department, patient relief is one of the care priorities and fundamental human rights. Therefore, emphasis on the fundamental values of nursing profession and paying attention to patients' individual needs and rights can be effective in managing the pain properly.