Bridging Gaps in Pain Management: The Effectiveness of Educational Intervention for Nurses in a Teaching Hospital of Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Background: Regular on-the-job training and educational courses may improve nurses’ knowledge and practice regarding pain assessment and initial treatment.Objectives: To assess the impact of a newly developed educational course in terms of improvement in knowledge regarding pain assessment and initial treatment by using pretest and posttest multiple-choice question scores and to determine the retention of knowledge 3 months after the educational course and perceived change in clinical practices among nurses working in adult surgical and medical wards at the Aga Khan University Hospital.Methods: After getting approval from the institutional review committee, an education course was developed and conducted. A total of 86 participants attended both online and physical components. Teaching methodologies included online lectures, small group tutorials and hands-on workshops using demonstrations of locally developed videos. Pretests and posttests were conducted to assess the knowledge. All participants were requested to complete an online questionnaire to know the impact of the course on their clinical practice.Results: Eighty-six participants completed the course, of which 52 (60.5%) were female and 34 (39.5%) were male. The mean difference between the pretest and posttest scores of participants was 4.72 (39.66%), which was statistically significant (p≤0.001). The mean posttest multiple-choice question score of participants was 16.70 ± 3.56, and the mean posttest multiple-choice question score of participants after 3 months was 15.60 ± 4.09 with a mean difference of 1.10 (6.59%), which was not statistically significant (p=0.121).Conclusion: The hybrid educational course had a significant learning impact on the knowledge of participants and their clinical practice.