Nursing research
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Several pain observation scales have been developed to accurately assess and manage pain in older adults with severe cognitive impairments, communication difficulties, or both. ⋯ As different methods of evaluating reliability and validity were used, and different aims (e.g., type of pain) were pursued, the available scales cannot be compared easily. Nevertheless, a few are promising, given preliminary results. These should be examined further on psychometric properties and usefulness in different populations because optimal pain assessment is necessary for efficient and effective pain treatment.