Holler if it hurts? Strategies for identifying & assessing pain in people with dementia

Hello everyone,

Much research has shown that people with dementia are at an increased risk for having their pain under-assessed and under-treated, leading to serious physical and psychosocial consequences including:

  • Gait impairment (leading to increased fall risk)
  • Decreased appetite
  • Sleep disturbances
  • Agitation
  • Physical combativeness
  • Wandering
  • Decrease in daily activities
  • Impaired cognition
  • Verbal aggression
  • Depression
  • Social isolation
  • Learned helplessness

(Shega J., Emanuel L., Vargish L., Levine S.K., Bursch H., Herr K., Karp J.F. & Weiner D.K.  (2007) Pain in persons with dementia: complex, common, and challenging. The Journal of Pain 8, 373-387.)

 If you and/or staff observe some of these behaviors in a resident with dementia, do not assume it is part of the disease. Rather, take some time to assess the person for pain.

While self-reporting pain-rating scales such as Verbal Rating Scales and Facial Pain Scales remain the ‘gold standard’ when assessing pain in older adults, people experiencing moderate to severe stages of dementia may be unable to communicate the existence and severity of their pain.

 A widely used tool called “PAINAD” (Pain Assessment in Advanced Dementia, developed by Victoria Warden, Ann C. Hurley, and Ladislav Volicer) can be used to identify and assess pain in older adults who are unable to verbally communicate. Click here for the tool: http://www.mghpcs.org/eed_portal/Documents/Pain/Critical_Care/Dementia_Pain_Tool.pdf

To use the tool, caregivers observe the patient during periods of activity and record behavioral indicators of pain:

  • breathing (normal, labored, noisy?)
  • negative vocalization (none, groaning, crying?)
  • facial expression (smiling, sad, grimacing?)
  • body language (relaxed, tense, pacing, rigid?), and
  • consolability (no need to console, distracted by voice/touch, unable to console?)

 Once you’ve identified and assessed the pain in a patient, you’ll need to plan an intervention. Some behaviors, such as verbal agitation, pacing and restlessness, improve most with pain treatment. Other behaviors such as hitting, kicking, scratching respond less to treatment.

We’ll discuss some pain interventions next week. In the meantime, don’t forget to send us your DICE examples to win a prize for your facility!!!

Have great week!

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