Patients' Perception of Acute and Chronic Pain and their Satisfaction with Care at the General Hospital Douala

Pain is a constant problem to deal with in our health system. Though standards and treatments have been set to help relieve patients from their pains, pain handling remains a major challenge in our health care system in Cameroon. This thesis set out to analyse patient's perception of acute and chronic pain, nursing modalities in managing pain, the views of healthcare managers and pharmacists on the treatment process. The study employed a survey design and more specifically a concurrent triangulation mixed method approach. The General hospital in Douala was used. Data was obtained through the survey of 350 respondents sampled purposively and conveniently as to make sure that both acute and chronic pain patients were represented. Data was analysed using SPSS version 24.0. As far as patients' satisfaction was concerned, all the indicators except hygienic condition had scored below the optimal cut point of 80, namely pain assessment, pain severity and relief, side effects of treatment, helpfulness of information about pain treatment or counselling, ability to participate in pain treatment decisions, use of non pharmacological strategies, satisfaction with therapy, and satisfaction with the pain management while in the ward. Pain management was hindered by lack of appropriate therapy approaches, standard for pain handling was not provided by the hospital, high cost of treatment, unavailability of some drugs, inadequacy of facilities, and limited health personnel. The study therefore recommended that stakeholders should act as to make sure that pain management is better standardized and affordable in hospitals while abiding to professional ethics and good practices and providing the necessary equipment. Njumbo Petronilla Kain Balgah | Mary Bi Suh Atanga | Ngeumaiim Ngoufo Flore | Betrand Hugo Mbatcou Ngahane "Patients' Perception of Acute and Chronic Pain and their Satisfaction with Care at the General Hospital Douala" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-7 | Issue-4, August 2023, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd59647.pdf Paper Url:https://www.ijtsrd.com/medicine/other/59647/patients'-perception-of-acute-and-chronic-pain-and-their-satisfaction-with-care-at-the-general-hospital-douala/njumbo-petronilla-kain-balgah