Award Date

8-1-2020

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing (ND)

Department

Nursing

First Committee Member

Mary Bondmass

Second Committee Member

Rhigel Tan

Third Committee Member

Richard Gardner

Number of Pages

54

Abstract

Post-operative pain control is an enduring problem in health care. The extensive use of opioids since the 1980s has contributed to the current opioid crisis in the United States. In response, healthcare providers have begun to use a more biopsychosocial model to address pain control needs of patients. There is a demonstrated gap in knowledge for nurses in this area, and recent changes to hospital accreditation standards include a requirement to demonstrate both education provisions to staff and the use of non-opioid methods to control pain. The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project was to assess, and increase if needed, nurses’ knowledge of non-opioid methods of pain control in post-operative elective hip and knee replacement patients before and after an educational intervention. The project used an assess teach-reassess approach to identify and improve nursing knowledge gaps regarding non-opioid methods of pain control in post-operative patients. This project was initially planned as an in person educational presentation; however, in the setting of COVID19, an alternative delivery method was decided upon, and IRB approval was sought and obtained. An educational video on the topic was developed, and all data collection, assessments, education, and evaluation were carried out online via web links. The population of interest for this project was registered nurses over the age of 18, with a license to practice in Nevada; from this population, a convenience sample was sought. Nurses were invited to participate via email communications, social media, and word-of-mouth. Following one month of data collection, 103 nurses responded, but only 45 participants had complete data and were included in the final analysis. A paired t-test for matched samples was used to analyze pre- and post-knowledge assessment scores. A significant change in post-knowledge assessment scores (p < .001) was achieved (N=45). Though the mean difference in scores was statistically significant, it was small (1.1); however, percent change on individual knowledge assessment items showed clinical significance. Data are available that support continuing nursing education online as effective. This project found consistent results as those in the literature regarding successful online delivery of continuing nursing education, as evidenced by this project’s demonstration of increased knowledge assessment scores for this sample. Dissemination of these results in a manuscript is planned.

Keywords

Non-opioid pain control; Opioid analgesics; Orthopedic pain; Pain management

Disciplines

Nursing

File Format

pdf

File Size

879 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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