BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Very often, chronic pain is undermanaged in patients with chronic non-malignant pain due to its complexity, and the long term success of the treatment is difficult. This study aimed at understanding nurses' perception about administering opioids to relieve chronic non-malignant pain (CNMP). METHOD: After the Ethics Committee approval, participated in this study clinical nurses with experience in managing chronic pain patients, who answered a questionnaire about using opioids for CNMP. RESULTS: Participated in this study 60 nurses, of whom 56.7% identified patients' pain by their complaints, 40% reported that dipirone was the drug used to treat CNMP, 50% reported that massage was the non-pharmacological therapy to treat CNMP, most have mentioned morphine and tramadol as the most widely used opioids to relieve chronic non-cancer pain, 50% stated that they evaluate pain intensity and administer prescribed opioids if needed when the pain is moderate or severe, 60% of nurses believe that opioids interfere with patients' rehabilitation, most have mentioned addiction (65%) and respiratory depression (46.7%) as the best known side-effects and 61.7% have stated that they have no restriction for the use of opioids to treat CNMP. CONCLUSION: Most nurses have no restriction for the administration of opioids for CNMP patients.
Chronic pain; Drug Effects; Fear; Nurses; Opioid analgesics
