BackgroundrnDespite the increased focus on pain management programs and the development of newrnstandards for pain assessment, postoperative pain (POP) remains a concern for patients.rnObjective: To assess adult postoperative pain management practice amongrnnursesrnworking in Addis Ababa public hospitals, Ethiopia, 2015.rnMethods: A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted on nurses in Addis Ababarnpublic hospitals from April 26 to May 10, 2015. Self-administered structuredrnquestionnaire was distributed to 331 nurses selected randomly. However, 327rnquestionnaires were collected while 4 respondents didnâ€™t return questionnaires andrnanother 3 were found incomplete. So 324 nurses gave complete responses to all itemsrnprovided and the response rate was 97.9%. Statistical software SPSS version 20 wasrnused to compute descriptive statistics, association by operating bivariate logisticrnregression analysis and data was presented using frequency tables.rnResult: The result showed that there is a significant association between sex andrnpostoperative management practice with [OR= 0.194, (95%CI: 0.053, 0.714)].Malesrnpractice was better than females. Similarly the study showed a significant associationrnbetween area of practice and postoperative management practice [OR=9.761(95% CI:rn1.858, 51.274)]. Nurseâ€™s practice in SICU was found better than those working inrnsurgical ward.rnConclusion: Even though the majority of nurses are professionals the overall knowledgernand practice of nurses working in the postoperative area was found low in this study. Thisrnindicates that postoperative pain was undertreated, and patientâ€™s right to get rid of painrnwas not respected.rnRecommendations: continuous professional development, proficiency assessment, andrnprovision of PATs and pain guideline was recommended.rnKey words: postoperative pain, knowledge and practice.