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A conceptual framework for nursing management of pain
Deanne L Heath
Research Fellow, School of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville QLD
Mary M Reid-Finlay
Clinical Nurse, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute, Surgical Care Unit, New York City, United States of America
Abstract
The development of specific nursing-based conceptual frameworks help to define and link ideas when performing studies involving a number of different concepts. Through the use of nursing models and frameworks, knowledge gained from nursing research can be more readily disseminated into nursing practice. The present framework encompasses nurses' knowledge and attitudes about pain management and incorporates the work of many theorists, the most prominent being that of Brenda Conrad. This pain management scheme expresses the belief that nurses have a unique and pivotal role in supporting and promoting optimum health states and providing quality life. It generates overall goals related to nurse assistance of the patient in the areas of recovery, independence, adjustment and treatment, and emphasises that to meet the patient's needs, nurses must possess adequate pain assessment and management knowledge as well as supportive attitudes to provide efficient quality care provision. The major supposition emphasised throughout this conceptual framework is that underlying nursing care is a grounded knowledge base fostering genuine care and concern for the welfare of the holistic patient.
Keywords
pain, conceptual, knowledge, attitudes
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