A Survey on the Customized Visiting Nurse's Assessment and Management of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain in Older Adults

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the status of visiting nurse's assessment and management of chronic musculoskeletal pain in older adults. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 285 visiting nurses working at 24 public health centers located in Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, and Gangwon-do. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from June to July, 2008. The SPSS/WIN 13.0 program was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Of the visiting nurses, 195 (77.4%) reported lack of pain education for nurses. The education of exercise (83.3%) was used most frequently by nurses as a pain intervention. Barriers to effective pain management were inadequate pain management guidelines and lack of pain education for nurses. CONCLUSION: It is necessary to develop evidence-based nursing interventions for pain management and to develop systematic educational programs for visiting nurses management of chronic musculoskeletal pain.