Postoperative Patients in Jordan: Pain Prevalence, Characteristics, Beliefs, and Satisfaction

Background: Unrelieved postoperative pain contributes to soaring medical costs and poor quality of life. Whilst much has been written about postoperative pain prevalence in the literature, few empirical studies have explored pain care in Middle Eastern countries. Aims: This study aimed to determine pain prevalence, its characteristics, beliefs and satisfaction among postoperative patients in Jordan. Design: This is a descriptive survey design. Settings: This study was conducted in a 200-bed Jordanian public hospital located in the southern province of Jordan. Participants: A convenient sample of 143 surgical patients was selected. Methods: Data were collected by the American Pain Society Patient Outcomes questionnaire, Brief Pain Inventory scale and beliefs towards pain scale. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. Results: Pain prevalence following surgery during the first 24 hours was 87%. The overall Mean of satisfaction of all participants was moderate (66.6%). The analysis found that the greatest interference of pain was with activity (Mean ± SD = 6.27 ± 3.30). The belief “people get addicted to pain medicine easily” was the most common misunderstanding (Mean ± SD = 3.48 ± 1.71). Male participants had worse average pain experience but were more satisfied with pain management than females (ps =.012,.017, respectively). Participants aged 30 or more had better pain management experience and satisfaction than those aged under 30 (p =.021). Conclusions: The study revealed high pain prevalence among surgical patients that remains undertreated. If patients’ postoperative environment is to be a “Pain Free Zone”, nurses’ training programs and the application of various screening tools in the postoperative context taking into account the role of gender and culture are urgently needed.