[Nursing pain experts in German hospitals : A compilation of activity profiles and tasks].

BACKGROUND

In recent years nurses have come to play a professional role in pain management. In Germany, the publication of the national expert standards on pain management in nursing resulted in nurses being educated to be pain resource nurses; however, since education has started the continuance and commitments of specialized pain nurses in clinical practice is basically unclear. The goal of this evaluation was to identify how pain resource nurses are involved in pain management and organizational aspects in German hospitals.

METHOD

Online survey of 374 directors of nursing services of different types of hospitals on the assignment of nursing pain experts.

RESULTS

Pain resource nurses are involved in pain management in 70.6% of the hospitals responding to the questionnaire. Their task profile depends on the hospital size and 42.2% of the hospitals have documented task profiles. Pain resource nurses are primarily involved in invasive pain management processes (37.1%) and in the management of pain in patients with complex pain problems after surgery (33.2%). Educative tasks are training of colleagues and implementation and conversion of the national expert standards. Of the hospitals 36.1% implemented the national expert standards for acute pain and 57% of the medium-sized hospitals have at least also implemented the national expert standards for chronic pain.

DISCUSSION

The study shows a first insight into the task profiles of pain resource nurses. The implementation of this special qualification is meaningful and seems to be well-recognized in the hospitals. The tasks of patient care are orientated to the spectrum of patients treated in the hospital. The tasks of education also show the importance for the education of colleagues.