Attitudes of surgical nurses toward postoperative opioid use: A qualitative study

Abstract

Aim: This study was aimed to investigate the attitudes of surgical nurses toward postoperative opioid use. Method: The descriptive phenomenological study consists of 30 surgical nurses in two hospitals in Turkey.  Data were collected by semi-structured face to face interviews. Data analyses were done by qualitative theme analysis.  Findings: As a result of the theme analysis, six themes related to surgical nurses' attitudes of postoperative opioid analgesic use were identified. These themes are named as follows: primary indications for opioids, safest route for opioid administration, complications observed following opioid administration, opioid addiction, opioid safety, feeling stressed while administrating opioids. Nurses (13/30) stated that intravenous way is safer as it affects fast, and it is easy to control; while 12 nurses said that intramuscular application is safer as there are few possibilities for complications. While all of the nurses were agreed on that opioids are addictive, eighteen of them think that opioid drugs are safe, and 16 stated that administering opioids did not create stress. Conclusions: Nurses face some obstacles related to the use of opioids in the process of pain management, such as the abuse of opioids and encountering side effects. Pain management and opioid use should be given a great place in nursing education.