The incidence of pain increases substantially after age 60, including an increased incidence of pain due to cancer. Undertreatment of pain in the elderly is a significant problem in long-term care facilities. Successful pain management will require an analysis of the causes, a framework for understanding the pain, and a simple yet comprehensive protocol to assist health care professionals in assessing, documenting, and treating pain in the elderly. Accession Number 1999047738. Institution Senior Lecturer in Nursing, School of Health and Nursing, University of Western Sydney, Nepean.
Aged people have special needs for effective management of pain, discomfort and distress.
These are related not only to their aging physiology but also to practical problems associated with adequate assessment, particularly when acute or chronic illness is complicated by confusion. Few validated assessment tools are available for use, and when available, are not used consistently, documented accurately or acted on effectively. Concerns about safety, addiction and respiratory depression compound the problems for caregivers, patients and their families when strong analgesics are used. In this paper, these and other barriers to effective pain management will be discussed with reference to clinical and research literature, and to principles of care which may usefully be applied by nurses working with elderly clients in varied clinical settings. Source Palliative Medicine.