Assessment of post-operative pain and its management among patients undergoing craniotomy.

Pain assessment and its management in patients undergoing craniotomy, especially those with communication barriers, continue to present challenges to nurses. The present study was undertaken to assess the level of post-operative pain suffered by patients after craniotomy, to identify the activities that increase/relieve pain and to find out association between pain score of patients and selected variables. A self-prepared validated questionnaire and Wong Bakers Faces pain scale were used as the tools. The post-operative pain was mild to moderate and decreased from first to third postoperative day. Pain relief was adequate with the combination therapy of non-narcotic analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The study revealed that there was no significant difference between the pain perception and age or gender of the patient. The activities that increased pain were surgical dressing removal and position changing. Nursing staff should focus on assessing and managing post-operative pain to improve quality of nursing care in order to improve the comfort of craniotomy patients.