Nurses' perceptions of their pain assessment skills, pain management practices, and attitudes toward pain.

Nursing pain assessments are influenced by the length of available tools, patient characteristics, patient pathology, concern about addictive behavior, and characteristics of the nurse. The relationship among these variables was explored in a sample of community hospital nurses (N = 59) and ONS members (N = 19). Although a number of interesting similarities were found in the two groups, age, professional and continuing education, and care setting appear to be related to differences in pain assessment practices. Implications for practice, research, and education include teaching nurses to: assess factors related to quality of life in the pain experience, assess and validate data from families, assess coping skills, and teach patients to use behavioral pain management strategies. The findings also suggest that further study is needed concerning the relationship between personal beliefs and experiences and the assessment and management of pain. Membership in professional organizations appears to be associated with comprehensive approaches to the assessment and management of cancer pain and should be addressed in further research.