International Journal of Caring Sciences January-April 2019 Volume 12 | Issue 1| Page501 www.internationaljournalofcaringsciences.org Original Article Exploring Factors That Affected Pain Severity in Postoperative Period Ayla Unsal, PhD Associate Professor, Ahi Evran University School of Health, Kırsehir, Turkey Papatya Karakurt, PhD Associate Professor, Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University Faculty of Health Sciences, Erzincan, Turkey Aybike Bahceli, Msc Research Assistant, Yozgat BozokUniversity Faculty of Health Sciences, Correspiondence: Papatya Karakurt, PhD, Associate Professor, Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University Faculty of Health Sciences, Erzincan, Turkey E-mail: papatyademirci@hotmail.com Abstract Background: Postoperative pain occurs in most of the patients and is associated with outcomes of health economics. Aims: This study was designed in order to explore factors that affected pain severity in postoperative period among patients who were operated at otorhinolaryngology clinic. Methodology:This descriptive study was done with 191 patients who stayed at otorhinolaryngology clinic during postoperative period. Patients who were voluntary to join the study and were able to communicate were included in the study. Study data were collected using Information Request Form designed by the researchers and Visual Analogue Scale for pain used to measure pain severity during postoperative period. The data were assessed using percentages, average scores and One way-Anova analyses. Results: It was found that average age of the participating patients was 32.9±12.8 years, 58.1% of them were male, 48.7% of them had high school degree, 44% of them underwent septal deviation operation and 95.3% of the did not suffer from any complications. It was identified that 51.8% of the patients had moderate level of pain threshold and 37.7% of them suffered from very low level of pain. In was noted that 91% of the patients indicated operation site as pain point, 72.8% of them indicated pain length as intermittent, 37.1% of them indicated pain quality as tingling, 47.6% of them had pain while coughing and 40.8% of them described pain as disturbing. It was seen that pain severity of those who were female, had endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy operation, had attendants, underwent operation previously, often used pain killers and had intermittent pain feelings was higher. Conclusions: It was found that nearly half of the patients in the postoperative period had pain at a disturbing level. It was noted that sex of the patients, type of the operation, presence or absence of attendants, having previous operation, frequency of pain killer and length of pain affected pain. It may be recommended that nurses should plan nursing interventions against the factors determined for the otorhinolaryngology patients during postoperative period in order to relieve pain severity. Key Words: Postoperative period, pain severity, nursing. Introduction Over the world, surgical interventions are done for millions of people every year and they suffer from postoperative pain at various degrees. Although there have been great improvements in treating chronic pain and its treatment for the past 20 years, postoperative pain still continues to be an unsolved problem (Uyer, 2002; Buyukyılmaz & Astı, 2009). Surgery and anesthesia are health services that reduce risk for numerous disabilities and death each year over the world and it is estimated that need for these services will be increasing for the