Abstract

Post-operative pain is a common problem after surgical procedure. Undertreated and uncontrolled post-operative pain reduce physical and social performance, impaired quality of life and patient dissatisfaction, delayed discharge, increased use of health care resources and high cost on their hospital stay. Even if the problem is vast, researches on the area lack adequate data. This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitude and perceived barriers to post-operative pain management among anesthetists in Addis Ababa Governmental Hospitals, Ethiopia 2015. An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted. A survey method was undertaken to include a total of 150 anesthetists working in 11 government hospitals found in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Pretested structured self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data were entered and analyzed through SPSS version 20. Tables, graphs and frequencies were used to report the descriptive result. In total, 102 (68%) participants participated in the research. The mean score of correctly answered questions by the participants was 4.9 SD ±2.3, out of 12 items ranging from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 11. Inadequate post-operative pain assessment, absence of pain management guideline and least priority for post-operative pain control are the major mentioned barriers by the participants. Anesthetist’s pain management knowledge and attitude level was found to be low. Strengthening educational strategy for surgical pain management and working on standard guidelines plays major role in alleviating the problem.

Key words: Attitude, Ethiopia, knowledge, perceived barriers, post-operative pain.