Objectives: We aimed in this defining study to determine patients' opinions about nursing practices with respect to their postoperative pain and their satisfaction with these practices.
Methods: Data were collected by two questionnaires that were prepared by the researchers. The collected data were evaluated with chi-square and number, frequency tests.
Results: Of the 360 patients participating in this study, 61.4% were women, 83% were over 40 years old and 88% had low educational level. 60.4% had no previous surgery experience. It was determined that 30.6% of patients had undergone heart-lung (cardiovascular system, CVS) and 25.5% gastrointestinal system (GIS) surgery. It was found that 96.4% of patients experienced pain while coughing and 81.9% while getting out of bed. 96.4% of patients reported difficulty in coughing, 78.3% difficulty in mobilization and 46.7% difficulty in breathing because of postoperative pain. It was determined that patients who underwent CVS, TAH+BSO and GIS operations experienced more pain while coughing and trying to get out of bed, while patients who underwent discectomy experienced more pain while walking. There was a significant difference between types of operation and pain (p<0.05) and between activities in which patients experienced difficulty and types of operation (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The patients stated that nurses did not use a pain scale, provide information about how pain could be relieved, demonstrate what they needed to do during the activities that caused pain, assist the patients to reposition to relieve the pain, or use any non-pharmacological interventions. Nevertheless, all of the patients were satisfied with the analgesics that were administered by nurses for pain relief.