Abstract:
Background: Pain management is integral part of nurses practices, thus a deeper understanding
of the barriers for proper pain management needs to be addressed. There is nursing skill gap in
clinical practice of neonatal pain management. This has led the American Pain Society to declare
pain as the “fifth vital sign”. In Ethiopia, it was unknown about clinical practice of neonatal pain
management.
Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess neonatal pain management practice and
associated factors among nurses working in public hospitals of Southern - Ethiopia, 2024.
Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study design was conducted at selected public
hospitals of Southern, Ethiopian from January 1 to February 29, 2024. A purposive sampling
technique was used to select 369 nurses. A structured and self-administered questionnaire and
observation checklist were used to collect the data. Data was entered into Epi-data version 3.1
and exported to SPSS version 26 for analysis. Variables with (p < 0.25) from the binary logistic
regression were entered into a multivariable logistic regression model. P-value < 0.05 with 95%
CI was considered to declare a result as statistically significant factors.
Result: In this study 18.3% (95%CI: 14.4%, 22.7%) of nurses working in the selected public
hospitals of South Ethiopia had good neonatal pain management practice. On observation 16.2%
(95%CI: 6.2%, 32.0%) of nurses were practicing proper neonatal pain management. Good
neonatal pain management practice among nurses were statistically associated with age of nurses
(AOR = 3.020, 95%CI: 1.301, 7.007), marital status (AOR = 4.898, 95%CI: 2.087, 9.493),
presence of pharmacological anti-pain drug in the unit (AOR = 7.24, 95%CI: 2.659, 11.692),
presence of shortage of nursing staff in each shift (AOR = 0.097, 95%CI: 0.034, 0.279), and
inadequate knowledge level of nurses about neonatal pain management (AOR = 0.227, 95%CI:
0.083, 0.623).
Conclusions and recommendations: In this study the self-reported practice and results from
observation were low. Improving practice of neonatal pain management requires; hiring of
adequate nursing staff, providing pharmacological anti-pain drugs in the unit, and increasing
nurse‟s knowledge regarding neonatal pain management
