| Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is the most common genetic disorder of the blood effecting over 70,000 Americans. Nursing research on SCD and pain identifies a lack of knowledge regarding the illness, pain management and drug addiction. The purpose of this study was to examine the sickle cell patients' satisfaction with nursing care in the emergency department, to measure their pain levels during the acute phase of their painful episode, and measure the length of stay (LOS) in the emergency room before and after a comprehensive education intervention on SCD, chronic pain management, and drug dependence and tolerance was administered to the ED nurses. A quasi-experimental pretest/posttest design was used to examine the variables. The study analyzed the medical records of 27 adult SCD patients who had 59 separate visits to the ED for pain before and after the educational intervention. Data analysis concluded that the educational intervention administered to the nurses significantly decreased the patients' perceived level of pain and the LOS in the ED. Patient satisfaction was not evaluated due to low survey return rates. |
