Pain Quality Among Hospitalized Postcraniotomy Brain Tumor Patients

Abstract

Purpose/aims: The aim of this study was to describe how persons given a diagnosis of a brain tumor who have had a craniotomy describe the quality of their pain after surgery. Design: A qualitative descriptive design was used. Methods: Qualitative descriptive methods as described by Sandelowski guided this study. Semistructured interviews were conducted with patients hospitalized on a neurological step-down unit in an urban teaching hospital in the Midwestern United States. Interviews focused on the quality of participants' pain after surgery. Narratives were analyzed using standard content analysis. Results: Twenty-seven participants were interviewed. Most were White and female. Most underwent a craniotomy using an anterior approach with sedation. Participants described the quality of their pain with 6 different types of descriptors: pain as pressure, pain as tender or sore, pain as stabbing, pain as throbbing, pain as jarring, and pain as itching. Conclusions: Participants' descriptions of their pain quality after surgery provide a different understanding than do numerical pain ratings. Clinicians should use questions to explore patients' individual pain experiences, seeking to understand the quality of patients' pain and their perceptions.