Nurses’ Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Pain Management at a Tertiary Hospital in Saudi Arabia: Impact of an Evidence-Based Instructional Program

TL;DR

A 3-hour educational program improved nurses' knowledge and attitudes about pain management at a Saudi hospital, showing the value of evidence-based training in healthcare settings.

Contribution

The study demonstrates that short, evidence-based training can effectively enhance nurses' pain management competence in a tertiary hospital.

Findings

Baseline knowledge was moderate and attitudes were generally positive before the educational program.

The 3-hour program significantly improved both knowledge and attitudes, with a stronger correlation post-intervention.

Ongoing education may help sustain improvements and address barriers like misconceptions about analgesics.

Abstract

What are the main findings?
Nurses demonstrated moderate baseline knowledge and generally positive attitudes toward pain management at a tertiary military hospital in Saudi Arabia.A 3 h evidence-based educational program produced statistically significant improvements in both knowledge and attitudes, with a moderate positive correlation between the two before and after the intervention.

Nurses demonstrated moderate baseline knowledge and generally positive attitudes toward pain management at a tertiary military hospital in Saudi Arabia.

A 3 h evidence-based educational program produced statistically significant improvements in both knowledge and attitudes, with a moderate positive correlation between the two before and after the intervention.

What are the implications of the main findings?
Short, targeted, evidence-based training can be used as a practical strategy to strengthen nurses’ pain management competence and reinforce patient-centered pain care in tertiary settings.Embedding ongoing pain education within hospital professional development may help sustain improvements and reduce persistent barriers (e.g., misconceptions around analgesics), supporting safer, more consistent pain assessment and management.

Short, targeted, evidence-based training can be used as a practical strategy to strengthen nurses’ pain management competence and reinforce patient-centered pain care in tertiary settings.

Embedding ongoing pain education within hospital professional development may help sustain improvements and reduce persistent barriers (e.g., misconceptions around analgesics), supporting safer, more consistent pain assessment and management.

Background/Objectives: Pain is highly prevalent among hospitalized patients, and suboptimal pain assessment and management remain common in clinical practice. Nurses are central to timely pain recognition and intervention, yet knowledge and attitudinal gaps can hinder evidence-based pain care. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the impact of an evidence-based instructional program on nurses’ knowledge and attitudes toward pain management at a tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia. Methods: A one-group pretest–posttest quasi-experimental study was conducted at King Fahad Military Medical Complex, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (January–July 2025). Registered nurses providing direct patient care (N = 226) completed a researcher-developed questionnaire assessing pain management knowledge (30 items) and attitudes (10 items, 5-point Likert scale) immediately before and one week after a structured three-hour evidence-based educational program. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired-sample t-tests, and Pearson correlation coefficients (SPSS v30), with p < 0.05 considered statistically significant. Results: Baseline findings indicated moderate knowledge (mean of total scores = 15.54 ± 4.32) and generally positive attitudes toward pain management (mean = 3.83 ± 0.60). Knowledge scores increased significantly after the intervention to become moderate to high (pretest: 15.54 ± 4.32 vs. posttest: 18.65 ± 3.83; p < 0.001). Attitude scores also improved significantly following the program (p < 0.001). Knowledge and attitudes showed a significant positive correlation both preintervention (r = 0.241, p < 0.001) and postintervention (r = 0.435, p < 0.001). Conclusions: A brief evidence-based educational program yielded measurable improvements in nurses’ pain management knowledge and attitudes. Integrating structured pain education into continuing professional development may strengthen patient-centered pain care and support more consistent evidence-based practice in tertiary settings.

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