Literature Review of Pain Management in Dementia.
LITERATURE REVIEW.
Abstract
Within the dementia care environment, it is my experience that it is often unclear to nursing staff as to appropriate assessment and management of pain for clients in the palliative stage of their illness.
Although nurses have their experience to guide their practice, as the health professional most involved with the client at the end of life, there is a need for review of current assessment tools and management strategies to ensure the care given is evidence based and best practice.
Aim
The aim of this review is to examine what is the most appropriate method of pain assessment and management when working with clients with cognitive impairment.
Methods
Searches were made of several databases
Cinahl
Embase
Medline
BNI
Psych
For articles published between 1990 and 2006 using the keywords, pain assessment, pain management, elderly, dementia and palliative care.
Findings
Most evidence in relation to this area of practice is anecdotal demonstrating a need for further research. Evidence presented in this review shows encouraging results in regard to the development of assessment tools and that there are clear standards of process for management of pain at the end of life. The results also show that nurses are concerned and are making attempts to be proactive in this area of care despite many barriers.
Conclusion
Good pain control requires both sensitivity to the clients needs on every level and the competence to meet them. Assessment and management of pain for individuals with a dementia is still very hit and miss, with evidence of both very good and very poor practice being demonstrated. Nurse education is still an unmet need within this area of practice. And that overall clients are experiencing unnecessary pain on a regular basis which could have been prevented.
Introduction
Pain Pain can be a common experience for many older adults and has negative effects on their health, functioning and general well being
Pain presents an
Abstract
Within the dementia care environment, it is my experience that it is often unclear to nursing staff as to appropriate assessment and management of pain for clients in the palliative stage of their illness.
Although nurses have their experience to guide their practice, as the health professional most involved with the client at the end of life, there is a need for review of current assessment tools and management strategies to ensure the care given is evidence based and best practice.
Aim
The aim of this review is to examine what is the most appropriate method of pain assessment and management when working with clients with cognitive impairment.
Methods
Searches were made of several databases
Cinahl
Embase
Medline
BNI
Psych
For articles published between 1990 and 2006 using the keywords, pain assessment, pain management, elderly, dementia and palliative care.
Findings
Most evidence in relation to this area of practice is anecdotal demonstrating a need for further research. Evidence presented in this review shows encouraging results in regard to the development of assessment tools and that there are clear standards of process for management of pain at the end of life. The results also show that nurses are concerned and are making attempts to be proactive in this area of care despite many barriers.
Conclusion
Good pain control requires both sensitivity to the clients needs on every level and the competence to meet them. Assessment and management of pain for individuals with a dementia is still very hit and miss, with evidence of both very good and very poor practice being demonstrated. Nurse education is still an unmet need within this area of practice. And that overall clients are experiencing unnecessary pain on a regular basis which could have been prevented.
Introduction
Pain Pain can be a common experience for many older adults and has negative effects on their health, functioning and general well being
Pain presents an
Cited: Anecdotal evidence may not be seen as the most reliable (Parahoo 1997) but there are reasons why within this area of research most results fit into this category. Pain management Horgas and Tsai (1998) investigated prescription administration of analgesic medication of clients with cognitive impairment