Health Care Workers and ICU Pain Perceptions

Objective Our study examined the effect of health care workers' personal characteristics on how they perceive and intend to treat patients' pain in the intensive care unit. Though pain perceptions have been well established from the patient's perspective, less is known about how variations in health care workers may affect their perceptions of pain. Design This study consisted of a 28-item questionnaire distributed to 122 medical staff personnel over a 12-month period. The questionnaire included items regarding respondent characteristics such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, and level of training. Subjects and Setting The questionnaire was distributed to physicians and nurses working in the critical care setting. Methods Responses were provided using a Likert scale and scored on subscales of hemodynamic instability, addiction and tolerance, pain expression, legal issues, and education. Results The results demonstrated that characteristics such as age and race were significant predictors of perceptions regarding addiction subscale scores (=-0.256, P=0.006 and =0.183, P=0.053, respectively). Race proved to be a significant factor in pain expression scores (=0.183, P=0.053). Work-related variables, such as being in or out of active medical training and being within the critical care specialty itself, were significant predictors of addiction subscale scores as well (=-0.238, P=0.012 and =0.191, P=0.050, respectively). Conclusion Health care providers' race, age, level of education, and medical subspecialty were significant factors affecting their perceptions of pain management and intended treatment.