Effects Of Pain Management On Older Adults

According to National Falls Prevention for Older People Initiative (2000), patients must be provided with proper education relating to knee and hip injury, in order to make them aware of the sensitivity relating to it. Education can be provided either through post-operation or through on-going basis at the time of hospitalisation. It has been recommended by Standards from the ICSI (2008), education on the subjects which shows how long to survive pain, preventing pain instead of chasing the pain, objective of pain management, treatment in pain management, how to get communicated with the nurse for analgesic when required, pain management planning this includes medication administration schedule. For older patients to instruct for reporting unrelieved pain quickly is important for effective pain management (Gowdy, 2003). After discharging the patients, proper instruction relating to pain management, side

There are many potential problems associated with the use of elderspeak. One of the major problems relates to the potential of negatively impacting the self-esteem of those to whom it is being directed towards. It has also been reported that through the use of elderspeak, “staff may unknowingly reinforce dependency and engender isolation and depression… contributing to the spiral of decline in physical, cognitive, and functional status” (Williams et al, 2003). Healthcare providers who engage in elderspeak can actually contribute to the decline of their patients, representing the total opposite of good healthcare practice for which most healthcare workers strive to achieve. It has also been reported that the stereotyping of older adults can have an impact on the quality of information being relayed to the patient. For example, “providers have been found to provide more information, offer more support, and share more decision-making with clients who are younger compared to older adults” (Williams et al, 2004).

Psychological factors are known to contribute to how people experience and cope with pain. However, as people age, they experience normative age-related changes in psychological functioning. Thus, much of what is known about psychology and pain may not necessarily apply to older adults, unless it has specifically been tested in older populations. This is a particularly important point, because pain remains a major problem for millions of older adults. Furthermore, it is expected that the populations of older adults in America will increase significantly in the coming years, as people are living longer now that at any other point in history. Given that psychology changes across the lifespan, and that pain is a problem in older populations, this

Appropriate assessment and management of pain should be paramount to nurses working in the elderly care sector.

Dealing with aging dementia patients can be a challenge in and of itself. However, when healthcare providers need to include regulating pain as well, the challenge becomes even greater. Pain management with cognitively impaired patients is a constant problem within geriatric care in modern healthcare facilities (Zwakhalen et al 2006). The reduced self capacity to report pain in its true degrees then makes pain management a challenge for physicians and healthcare providers (Husebo et al. 2007). Thus, research aims to explore effective measures for observing and reporting pain management within aging dementia patients.

Unfortunately, many clinicians and older adults wrongfully assume that pain should be expected in aging, which leads to less aggressive treatment. Older adults have additional fears about becoming dependent, undergoing invasive procedures, taking pain medications, and having a financial burden. The most common pain-producing conditions for aging adults include

The American Nurses Association also includes the phrase “the alleviation of suffering”It is evident in all of these statements that a high priority in medical ethics is pain relief. (Brennan)

According to The World Health Organisation (1999), defined pain as an unpleasant sensory or emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage. Pain is traditionally described as acute or chronic pain. The prevalence of chronic pain (CP) is higher than of acute of pain, as it affects 7.8 million people of all ages in the UK (Chronic Pain Policy Coalition., 2006). The current leading cause of mortality that is accounting for 60% of all deaths is due to chronic diseases and is also a problem as causes an increasing burden on the health care service (World Health Organisation., 2007). CP can affect a person’s quality of life if managed poorly, statistics shows that 25% of people lose their job and 22% leads to depression. (Chronic Pain Policy Coalition.,

Pain is one of the most influential symptoms that leads individuals to reach out to health care professionals to seek relief. Pain is subjective and unique to each person. Some individuals may have a higher pain tolerance than others. According to Frandsen (2014), “Pain is an unpleasant, sensory, emotional sensation associated with actual or potential tissue injury” (p. 889). Pain may be caused by a variety of elements, such as tissue or nerve damage and surgery. There are three main categories that pain is classified by, which are origin, duration, and cause. The main focus of this paper is on acute pain, chronic pain, and phantom pain. It is crucial to know how to assess each type of pain, as well as how to enhance it, or decrease the pain.

Aim/ purpose of study: Conglomeration of current data on pain and pain management for patients with dementia.

To address this the nurse will need to still complete a pain assessment using the current scale of 0-10 and if the patient does not meet the requirements for a pain intervention the nurse needs to also document why there was not an intervention

Geriatrics is a branch of medicine that specializes in the health of the elderly persons in the society, with the primary goal of promoting their health through the prevention and treatment of various diseases and disabilities. There is no established age limit medically at which a patient is termed geriatric, but the decision is largely guided by the needs of a particular person and the availability of a geriatrician. The elderly persons in the society are always victims of various chronic and severe acute diseases, some of which are incurable and end up killing these patients in a painful manner (Cassidy, 2010). Some of the diseases that these elderly people suffer from include incontinence, loss of memory, immobility,

With the population of adults 65 and over steadily climbing, medical professionals and the healthcare system are struggling to keep up. One major issue concerning the healthcare system is that it is not set up properly provide care for these older adults. The physicians today, who regularly see patients, focus mainly has been; diagnose—usually in a 15-20 minute office visit, treat, and cure. Many of these senior citizens have multiple chronic illnesses or diseases, which require time to manage and treat. The problem is that they may not be able to explain what the real problem to a doctor in that time.

Nursing is the holistic helping of persons with their self-care activities in relation to their health. I agree Vargina Henderson in her definition of nursing and nurses role, According to Henderson, 1966 “Nursing is primarily assisting the individual in the performance of those activities contributing to health and its recovery, or to a peaceful death”. Varginia Handerson, 1964 stated that “the nurse must get inside the skin of each her patient in order to know what he needs”. from this statement I conclude that nurses play an important role in promoting patient quality of care. Nurses play an important role to promote pain management practices for patients, a critical component of the nurse’s role in pain management is pain assessment, medications administration, organizing and delivering patient care activities, advocating for patient rights, educating patients and contact with physicians regarding changes in patient conditions; these nursing functions are critical in the management of pain. So, we can’t imagine nursing discipline without nursing

The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage” (1979). Pain is actually the culprit behind warranting a visit to a physician office for many people (Besson, 1999). Notoriously unpleasant, pain could also pose a threat as both a psychological and economic burden (Phillips, 2006). Sometimes pain does happen without any damage of tissue or any likely diseased state. The reasons for such pain are poorly understood and the term used to describe such type of pain is “psychogenic pain”. Also, the loss of productivity and daily activity due to pain is also significant. Pain engulfs a trillion dollars of GDP for lost work time and disability payments (Melnikova, 2010). Untreated pain not only impacts a person suffering from pain but also impacts their whole family. A person’s quality of life is negatively impacted by pain and it diminishes their ability to concentrate, work, exercise, socialize, perform daily routines, and sleep. All of these negative impacts ultimately lead to much more severe behavioral effects such as depression, aggression, mood alterations, isolation, and loss of self-esteem, which pose a great threat to human society.