A Study for Assessing Pain Intensity and Investigating Factors of Satisfaction with Postoperative Pain Management

복부 수술 환자의 통증 정도 및 통증관리 만족도 영향 요인 - 통증 자가조절기 사용 환자를 중심으로 -

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify pain intensity according to activities over postoperative days and to identify factors of patient satisfaction with pain management after abdominal surgery. Methods: The subjects were 123 patients who were admitted at a general surgical ward and had abdominal surgery from Mar. 2005 to June 2005. The collected data were analyzed using the SPSS 12.0 program. Results: The average postoperative pain scores were 6.13 at POD 1, 5.46 at POD 2, and 4.22 at POD 3. In stepwise multiple regression analysis a total of 40% of variance in satisfaction with pain management was accounted for by pain intensity on POD 3 at rest (29.4%) and attitude toward using pain medicine (6.6%), and side effects of pain medicine (4.0%). Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, patients had inadequate pain management after abdominal surgery. Therefore, nurses need to provide educational programs focused on changing attitudes toward using pain medicine, to reduce side effects of pain medicine, and to develop nursing intervention for relieving pain.