Introduction:

In Portugal, more than 30% of adults have chronic pain and acute pain is the main reason for hospital admission, representing 5 billion euros annually, 2.7% of Gross Domestic Product.

Objetives:

Assess the practices and factors involved in pain management by nurses in an Emergency Department.;

Methods:

Cross-sectional, analytic study, conducted in an emergency setting. Sample consisted of 96 nurses. The data collection instrument contained questions of socio-professional characterisation, the Scale of Nursing Practices in Pain Management of Catarina António and the Visual Pain Code of Grünenthal.

Results:

The pain assessment scale most commonly used by nurses was the Numerical Rating Scale (88.5%); nurses with more experience in the Emergency Department (>=11 years) showed a greater lack of knowledge (37.5%) and the majority (53.8%) of those with good knowledge about this code worked between 6-10 years (p=0.021).

Conclusions:

We believe that nurses need to deepen their knowledge about the principles of pain assessment and management. The constant and targeted updating of training will contribute to a better daily clinical practice.

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