Continuing nursing education: use of observational pain assessment tool for diagnosis and management of pain in critically ill patients following training through a social networking app versus lectures.

Background: Nursing staff training in using observational pain assessment tools is highly important to improve the assessment of pain. The present study was conducted to examine the effect of two different training methods (lectures vs. a social networking app) on the diagnosis and management of pain in mechanically-ventilated patients.

Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 70 nurses working in two Intensive Care Units (ICU) in Mashhad, Iran. The nurses were trained in the application of observational pain assessment tools by lectures or through a social networking app. Before and after the intervention, the nurses' performance was evaluated in both groups using a checklist based on Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool (CPOT).

Results: In the pre-intervention phase, the nurses' performance scores in the domains of pain diagnosis and pain management were not significantly different between the two groups (P > 0.05). Following the intervention, the mean score of pain diagnosis was 82 ± 19 in the lecture group and 97 ± 8 in the social networking app group (P < 0.01), and the mean pain management scores were 30 ± 17 and 90 ± 18 (P < 0.01), respectively.

Conclusion: This study showed that learning through a social networking app led to improved diagnosis and management of pain in mechanically-ventilated patients when compared with lectures. Training through social networking applications can therefore be considered as a feasible instructional method for developing nurses' pain management skills.