611: Defining the registered nurses' role in pain management and assessing competence

Topic: Education, Societal Impact, and Others
Subtopic: Education of pain care

Background and Aims: Decades of research on nurses’ knowledge and attitudes toward pain management have shown little meaningful improvement, with little change over 20 years.1,2 While nursing students’ knowledge and attitudes regarding pain appear to improve throughout their undergraduate program, significant knowledge deficits remain that impede their ability to assess and manage pain in clinical practice.3 The current tools used to assess this knowledge are not well-suited to a nursing student perspective and are not aligned with IASP nursing curricula.
This study aims to determine the pain knowledge required of nursing students and to develop a student-focused assessment tool.

Methods: A survey to determine the knowledge novice nurses require to manage pain in clinical practice was undertaken. Results from the survey will inform a Delphi study to develop a draft tool aligned with the IASP Curriculum on Pain. This curriculum has been freely available online since 2010.3
Given the extensive expertise of the attendees at the IASP 2026 World Congress on Pain, we will collect additional data at the event to assess the tool's relevance and acceptance within the international pain community, ensuring that leading world experts in the field are given opportunities to participate.

Results: Information from a literature review, the Australian survey results, and a Delphi study will inform the development of the draft tool, which will be displayed via a QR code on the poster. The main findings from the work so far are displayed on the poster. Consultation with Congress attendees will enhance the tool and enable the development of any variations required by specific countries or cultural groups. We anticipate collecting culturally orientated and non-pharmacological approaches to managing pain.

Conclusions: The IASP nursing curricula appear to be underutilised worldwide, as evidenced by registered nurses' poor pain knowledge when assessed using the existing validated tool. No current tool accurately assesses student nurses’ pain knowledge and attitudes towards pain management. Using the IASP curriculum criteria and survey results to develop a draft assessment tool, this research operationalises extended data collection via international expertise available at the IASP Congress. The collected data can inform curriculum development in nursing courses globally. It is proposed that mandated pain content be a nursing registration requirement. This project is expected to contribute to that goal.

References: 1. Cousins, M., Lane-Krebs, K., Matthews, J. and Johnston-Devin, C. Student nurses’ pain knowledge and attitudes towards pain management over the last 20 years: A systematic review. Nurse Educ Today, 2022;108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2021.105169
2. Twycross, A. Education about pain: A neglected area? Nurse Educ Today, 2000;20(3):244–253. https://doi.org/10.1054/nedt.1999.0412
3. Johnston-Devin, C., Beccaria, L., Cousins, M., Baldwin, A., Du Preez, P. H., & Lane-Krebs, K. (2025). Do No Harm: Nursing Students’ Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Pain Management. Pain Manag Nurs. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmn.2025.10.012

Presenting Author: Dr Colleen Johnston-Devin
Submitting Author: Colleen Johnston-Devin

Senior Author: Dr Colleen Johnston-Devin

IASP 2026 Global Year theme of Neuropathic Pain: No

• Dr Katrina Lane-Krebs: PhD, RN - Central Queensland University
• Marina Cousins: RN - Central Queensland University
• Associate Professor Lisa Beccaria: RN, PhD - University of Southern Queensland
• Dr Karen-Ann Clarke: RN, PhD - University of the Sunshine Coast