Impact of a pain management educational program on pediatric nurses' knowledge and attitudes about pain management

The knowledge base and attitudes of nurses has been shown to impact the treatment of pain. The theoretical framework was Kolcaba's theory of comfort. A pretest-posttest descriptive study determined the changes in the knowledge base and attitudes of nurses toward pain management after participating in an active learning educational orientation program. Newly hired registered nurses from a large, Midwestern pediatric hospital were tested during their orientation program using Manworren's Pediatric Nurses' Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain. The post test results were compared to scores from a cohort having previously participated in a didactic teaching module. Fifty-three subjects participated in the study. Comparing the active learning pre- and post-test scores, no significant difference was found (p=0.385). Also, no significant difference was found between the didactic post-test scores and the active learning post-test scores (p=0.399).