Knowledge and Attitude of Nurses towards Pain Assessment in Dementia Patients in Amaka University Teaching Hospital Anambra State Nigeria

PROPOSAL

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................3
RESEARCH QUESTION...............................................................................................................5
AIM & OBJECTIVES.....................................................................................................................5
METHODS......................................................................................................................................5
RESEARCH OUTCOMES.............................................................................................................7
COST...............................................................................................................................................8
TIMELINE......................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
Knowledge and attitude of nurses towards pain assessment in dementia patients in Amaka
University Teaching Hospital Anambra State Nigeria
The topic for the present research is to explore the knowledge and attitude of nurses towards
management of pain in dementia patients in Amaka University Teaching Hospital Anambra State
Nigeria. The health issue being addressed by the current research is pain management in
dementia patients and attitude of nurses towards it. Dementia is regarded as a cognitive
dysfunction which is not only progressive but also irreversible. It is a challenging aspect to
control pain in dementia patients because due to cognitive defects of the patient, the
identification pain and its assessment becomes difficult. Dementia patients may suffer from
unrecognized pain. In order to communicate that pain, the patient may act in an agitated manner
(Pergolizzi and et. al., 2019). For managing the patient behavior, he may be prescribed
antipsychotic while the actual reason for agitated behavior is pain. The research is important as it
will assist in exploring the attitudes that nurses have towards pain management in dementia
patient. It will also help in assessing their knowledge towards pain management. Thus, with the
help of the study, information can be obtained about future practice regarding better pain
management in dementia patients. Nurses as well as dementia patients will be benefitted from
the research.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Jennings, Linehan and Foley (2018) conducted a descriptive cross sectional study with the
purpose of exploring knowledge and attitudes of general practitioners towards pain and its
assessment in dementia patients. A total of 157 questionnaires filled by the respondents were
analysed. The authors found that the practitioners are unable to translate the guidance on pain
assessment and management to their clinical practice when dealing with dementia patients. It
was also found that with the presence of dementia it becomes difficult to assess the pain. Also,
the study revealed that pain assessment tools which were specific to dementia were not known to
the practitioners.
Jansen and et.al. (2017) carried out a qualitative study with the purpose of exploring the role and
experience of healthcare professionals with regard to management and assessment of pain in
people with dementia. On the basis of the interviews conducted with the healthcare assistant, the
study found that the causes of pan were noticed by the respondents. They were also able to detect
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