In the United States alone, over 5 million senior citizens have Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. Each year, Alzheimer’s disease claims over half a million senior lives. In 2014, costs related to this disease totaled 214 billion dollars and are expected to continue rising. Alzheimer’s average onset is around age 65, but can be seen in ages as young as 30. Women are almost twice as likely as men to develop this disease (Alzheimer’s Association, 2015). Pain is present in a minimum of 40% of elderly patients. As dementia progresses, increased cognitive impairment creates a language deficit. Patients with dementia lose the ability to effectively verbalize or describe their pain (Monroe et al., 2013). The purpose of this paper
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Pain is a subjective experience, meaning that each person’s perception of pain is unique. Therefore, self-report is the best basis for assessing the presence, location and intensity of pain (McAuliffe, Brown & Fetherstonhaugh, 2012). However, patients with dementia lose the ability to effectively verbalize or describe their pain (Monroe et al., 2013). With no verbalization, the identification of pain becomes increasingly difficult (Chatterjee, 2012). Often, behavior changes such as aggression or irritability tend to stem from pain that has gone undetected (Regan et al., …show more content…
Taking this concept one step further, the health care provider’s inability to provide treatment is considered a care-related variance. A priority for clinical practice is to maintain pain at a reasonable level for the client. However, to meet this goal, pain must first be recognized. Unsurprisingly, with deficits in communication, pain detection is complex in this population (McAuliffe et al., 2012). Luckily, there are nursing assessments and interventions that can help contribute to the detection and alleviation of pain within the geriatric community.
In order to keep pain at a reasonable level, the pain first must be detected. Although the ability to self-report decreases with cognitive decline, this method should be used as often as possible (Lukas et al., 2013). With a lack of verbalization, other methods of assessment are required to discover pain. Various tools have been developed to address this issue. Particularly, behavior based tools are relied upon to discover the presence of pain. In these cases, an assessment of behavior can provide the next best evaluation (Chatterjee,
Pain is a subjective experience, meaning that each person’s perception of pain is unique. Therefore, self-report is the best basis for assessing the presence, location and intensity of pain (McAuliffe, Brown & Fetherstonhaugh, 2012). However, patients with dementia lose the ability to effectively verbalize or describe their pain (Monroe et al., 2013). With no verbalization, the identification of pain becomes increasingly difficult (Chatterjee, 2012). Often, behavior changes such as aggression or irritability tend to stem from pain that has gone undetected (Regan et al., …show more content…
Taking this concept one step further, the health care provider’s inability to provide treatment is considered a care-related variance. A priority for clinical practice is to maintain pain at a reasonable level for the client. However, to meet this goal, pain must first be recognized. Unsurprisingly, with deficits in communication, pain detection is complex in this population (McAuliffe et al., 2012). Luckily, there are nursing assessments and interventions that can help contribute to the detection and alleviation of pain within the geriatric community.
In order to keep pain at a reasonable level, the pain first must be detected. Although the ability to self-report decreases with cognitive decline, this method should be used as often as possible (Lukas et al., 2013). With a lack of verbalization, other methods of assessment are required to discover pain. Various tools have been developed to address this issue. Particularly, behavior based tools are relied upon to discover the presence of pain. In these cases, an assessment of behavior can provide the next best evaluation (Chatterjee,