Pain Management

Biography

Jayawickreme K P is an MBBS Graduate from the Faculty of Medicine at University of Peradeniya who passed out with second upper class honors and a distinction in Paediatrics. She is currently a Registrar in Internal Medicine at The Sri Jayawardenepura General Hospital, Sri Lanka and is a Postgraduate trainee of the Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, of the University of Colombo. She worked as a Temporary Lecturer at the Department of Medicine at the Peradeniya University. She has published seven researches and five case reports in internationally recognized reputed journals and has presented oral and poster presentations in local and international medical conferences.

 

Abstract

Background & Aim: Pain is not pathology per se, but a symptom indicating underlying disease. Blind treatment of pain will result in masking the only presentation of a possible sinister underlying pathology. The objective of this study is to analyze the knowledge, attitudes and practices on pain management among doctors to prevent underuse, misuse and abuse of analgesics and to optimize pain management.

Methodology: This is a descriptive study, where a standardized self-administered questionnaire; knowledge and attitudes survey regarding pain (KASRP) was filled by doctors at the Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital and analyzed.

Results: Among 102 participants the mean KASRP score was 56.25%, with majority of 59.8% subjects having moderate scores (50-70%) and only 7.8% having high scores (>70%). The mean number of years of experience among those who had low scores was 3.52 years and that of high scores was 6.25 years, but there was no statistically significant correlation between years of experience and KASRP score according to the spearman non parametric test (p=0.073). The mean score of postgraduate trainees was 61.9%. Post graduate trainees have a statistically significant higher score than intern medical officers (p=0.001) and Intern medical officers have a statistically significant higher score than medical officers (p=0.04) according to Post HOC test.

Conclusion: The awareness on pain management among the study population is average and needs to be improved. The knowledge, attitudes and practices are higher among those who have a continuous medical education and training and who are aware of current pain management guidelines. Introducing pain management workshops will be beneficial in improving the outcome.