Background & Aims

Having access to pain management is a human right. We can’t ensure a life without pain, but we certainly can do much to reduce physical pain. Based on the literature review, pain management in Albania differs from that of developed countries, in pharmacological management, non-pharmacological management, and multimodal analgesia. Several barriers interfere with pain management practices, such as the lack of guidelines to regulate pain evaluation, the lack of a dedicated law for pain therapy, medical staff’s and patients’ mentality, and nurses’ lack of time.
Considering the entire Albanian background, the situation could be helped by promoting and applying several non-pharmacological methods for pain management.
This study aimed to improve patient’s quality of life during hospitalization, through the application of non-pharmacological methods for pain relief.

Methods

This is a mixed cross-sectional and experimental quantitative study. It was developed through two groups, the trained group of nurses, and the control group of nurses. The topics of the training were how to evaluate and monitor pain, and the promotion and application of several non-pharmacological methods for pain relief such as walking, distraction, cold packs, deep breathing etc.
The population consisted of all the nurses and the patients of the Surgery and OBS units of four regional hospitals in south Albania. A simple random sampling was applied to select the sample of this research, which consisted of 68 nurses and 380 patients. The measuring tools used were interviews, observation, medical cards, and a questionnaire.
The data collected were processed with the statistical software SPSS-23.

Results

From the total sample of 380 patients, 258 patients or about 68% of them used non-pharmacological methods for pain relief. Of the patients assisted by the trained group 98% of them used these methods, meanwhile from the patients assisted by the control group only 28.9% of them used these methods.
The patients assisted by the trained group had an average of pain relief from the pain management therapy Mean=83,7%, an average of patient satisfaction from the pain management therapy Mean=8.7, and an average score of patient’s perception of pain management quality Mean=5.696. All these figures are higher than the respective figures for the patients assisted by the control group.
The number of days spent with pain didn’t have significant statistical differences between the two groups and between the patients who used or didn’t use non-pharmacological methods for pain relief.
Significant statistical differences were found between QoL components and the use of these alternative methods.

Conclusions

Applying non-pharmacological methods for pain relief improved patients’ quality of life during hospitalization through two components, reducing the impact of pain in patients’ activities (turning, sitting up, repositioning in bed, walking, sitting in a chair, standing at the sink, and falling asleep) and reducing the impact of pain in patients’ mood and emotions. Meanwhile, the application of non-pharmacological methods didn’t reduce pain severity.
The results of this research confirmed the usefulness of the nurses’ training and the usefulness of the non-pharmacological methods for pain relief, in increasing patients’ quality of life during hospitalization.

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Presenting Author

Zhenisa Çuni

Poster Authors

Zhenisa Çuni

PhD

University of Gjirokaster

Lead Author

Topics

  • Treatment/Management: Complementary and Alternative therapies