Treating Pain in Dementia—Are We Good Enough?

ABSTRACT

Up to 80% of nursing home residents may be experiencing pain; however, in many cases their pain is not diagnosed and/or treated. People with moderate to severe dementia may have impaired communication, and this can impact on their self-report of pain. Drug treatment should be used cautiously.

This report is adapted from paineurope 2015; Issue 1, ©Haymarket Medical Publications Ltd., and is presented with permission. paineurope is provided as a service to pain management by Mundipharma International, Ltd., and is distributed free of charge to health care professionals in Europe. Archival issues can be viewed via the Web site: www.paineurope.com, at which health professionals can find links to the original articles and request copies of the quarterly publication and access additional pain education and pain management resources.

KEYWORDS :

• communication
• dementia
• MOBID-2 scale
• pain
• pharmacotherapy