Undergraduate nursing students' knowledge and attitude regarding pain management of children in Upper Egypt

Pain assessment and management require nurses to be equipped with adequate knowledge and proper attitudes. This research aimed to assess undergraduate nursing students' knowledge and attitude regarding pain management in children. Descriptive cross-sectional research design was utilized. This work was implemented at Faculty of Nursing in Assiut University. The study subjects consisted of convenient sample of undergraduate nursing students at third and fourth year during the academic year 2015-2016. One tool was used for this study consisted of two parts: part I: Demographic questionnaire, and part II: Pediatric Nurses’ Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain (PNKAS). Fifty-six percent of undergraduate nursing students had unsatisfactory score regarding PNKAS. The highest percentage 76.2% of participating students had less than 50% of total score of knowledge and attitude regarding pain especially to pharmacological information. The study concluded that nursing students had poor knowledge and attitude regarding pain management by using PNKAS especially in the part of pain assessment and pharmacological pain management. The more contact with pediatric patients the higher the knowledge and positive attitudes among undergraduate nursing students. The study recommended that the pediatric staff should review the curriculum to enrich more about assessment and management of pain.