Abstract:
Neonatal pain management had been a concern for over a decade. Translating neonatal pain management knowledge to clinical practice is still underutilized. The objectives
of this study were: 1) to examine the influence of infant factors, organizational context
factors, and nurse factors on nurses pain management in neonates, and 2) to determine the effect of nurse factors on nurses pain management in neonates, when controlling for infant factors and organizational context factors. One hundred eighteen neonatal nurses from NICUs in general hospitals in Thailand were enrolled in this study by using multi-stage sampling. The data were collected via self-report questionnaires consisting of Nurses Pain Management Practice Questionnaire, Neonatal Nurses Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain, Nurse-Physician Collaboration for Pain Management Scale, Nurses Knowledge Regarding Pain Management in Newborn Questionnaire, and Nurses Perception of Organizational Supportive Resources Questionnaire. Cronbach alpha coefficients of these instruments were .80, .72, .94, .70, and .80 respectively. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The findings showed that gestational age had a significant negative effect on pain management in neonates (β = -.414, p < .001). Organizational supportive resources and nursephysician collaboration had significantly positive effects on pain management in neonates (β = .349, p < .001, and β = .362, p < .001). Knowledge, attitude, and nurses experience of infant care had significant positive effects on pain management in neonates (β = .435, p < .001, β = .257, p < .01, and β = .236, p < .01, respectively). When controlling for infant and organizational context factors, nurse factors still predicted pain management in neonates. Together, the predictor variables explained 54.8% of the total variance of nurses pain management in neonates. These findings suggest that nurse factors are important predictors of pain management in neonates. Thus there is a need for nurse empowerment and enhanced knowledge about neonatal pain assessment and management among nurses.