Standardised pain assessment in cognitively impaired nursing home residents: Comparing the use of assessment tools in dementia care units and in integrated care units

Zeitschrift für Evidenz, Fortbildung und Qualität im Gesundheitswesen
Rebecca PalmSabine Bartholomeyczik

Abstract

A large number of nursing home residents with cognitive impairments (CI) suffer from chronic pain, which is also discussed as a reason for challenging behavior. To assess pain in people with severe CI, the use of an observational pain instrument is recommended; for people without or with mild CI the gold standard is a self-rating instrument. It is unknown whether in German nursing homes pain assessment in residents with severe CI is actually conducted using observational instruments and which instruments are used. Because of different resident structure we assume that in dementia care units observational pain instruments are more often used than in integrated care units. The aim of this study was to investigate the conduction of pain assessments and the instruments used in both types of care units. We conducted an observational study based on standardized data collection. A questionnaire was used to elicit whether pain assessment had been performed and what kind of instrument had been used last time. The cognitive status was also assessed. Based on these data, we determined for each resident whether a self- or proxy-rating instrument had been applied, considering his or her cognitive status. Afterwards, the resident data were a...Continue Reading

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