Application of a proposed graphic chart for pain as fifth vital sign in nursing practice

ABSTRACT

The American pain society considered pain [the fifth vital sign] to be assessed as important as assessment of the standard four vital signs, careful and regular assessment of pain improves the perception of nurses concerning the impact of pain on their patients lives to enhance the quality of its management .Therefore, the present study aimed at examining the applicability of a proposed graphic chart for pain as fifth vital sign in nursing practice in Taif hospitals KSA. An exploratory descriptive research design was carried out in seven units including]medical, two surgical, obstetric and gynecologic, cardiac, orthopedic and chest observation units] in three governmental hospitals in Taif. The study subjects consisted of 59 nurses available at the time of the study. An interview questiormaire, nurses' opinionnaire scale, nurses' audit and proposed five vital signs graphic chart were used for data collection. Results revealed that nurse's mean age was 22.5 [SD.6.71] years, experience was 4.76 [SD.3.32] years and the highest proportion of participants 74.58% were non Saudi. The majority of nurses agreed upon chart feasibility [74.5%]and quality of pain care [69.4 and]. Overall 72.8% of the nurses agreed upon the proposed graphic chart. Auditing of patients files revealed full application of the new change by 76.27%, 70.62% of nurses for graphic part and 75.14% for pain assessment part. It is concluded that the majority of the nurses had full application of the proposed change and it is recommended to be implemented in nursing practice in different health settings