Articles: pain-measurement.
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To explore hospice, acute care and nursing home nurses' experiences of pain management for people with advanced dementia in the final month of life. To identify the challenges, facilitators and practice areas requiring further support. ⋯ Nurses considered pain management fundamental to end-of-life care provision; however, nurses working in acute care and nursing home settings may be undersupported and under-resourced to adequately manage pain in people dying with advanced dementia. Nurse-to-nurse mentoring and ongoing needs-assessed interactive case-based learning could help promote practice development in this area. Nurses require continuing professional development in pharmacology.
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Z Evid Fortbild Qual Gesundhwes · May 2017
[Standardised pain assessment in cognitively impaired nursing home residents: Comparing the use of assessment tools in dementia care units and in integrated care units].
A large number of nursing home residents with cognitive impairments (CI) suffer from chronic pain, which is also discussed as a reason for challenging behavior. To assess pain in people with severe CI, the use of an observational pain instrument is recommended; for people without or with mild CI the gold standard is a self-rating instrument. It is unknown whether in German nursing homes pain assessment in residents with severe CI is actually conducted using observational instruments and which instruments are used. Because of different resident structure we assume that in dementia care units observational pain instruments are more often used than in integrated care units. The aim of this study was to investigate the conduction of pain assessments and the instruments used in both types of care units. ⋯ Especially in integrated units, a defined and consented method of pain assessment is important because of the differences in their residents' cognitive and verbal abilities. Appropriate education may help to improve this process.
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Observational Study
A Prospective Study of Chronic Pain after Thoracic Surgery.
The goal of this study was to detect the predictors of chronic pain at 6 months after thoracic surgery from a comprehensive evaluation of demographic, psychosocial, and surgical factors. ⋯ There was no difference in the incidence and severity of chronic pain at 6 months in patients undergoing thoracotomy versus thoracoscopy. Unlike other postsurgical pain conditions, none of the preoperative psychosocial measurements were associated with chronic pain after thoracic surgery.
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Observational Study
Endogenous Pain Facilitation Rather Than Inhibition Differs Between People with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis, and Controls: An Observational Study.
Commonalities in the core symptoms of fatigue and cognitive dysfunction experienced by chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS, also known as ME) and multiple sclerosis (MS) patients have been described. Many CFS and MS patients also experience chronic pain, which has been attributed to central sensitization in both groups of patients. However, the characteristics of pain in CFS and MS patients have not been compared. ⋯ We found differences in the characteristics of pain symptoms reported by patients with CFS and patients with MS, which suggest different underlying mechanisms. Specifically, overactive endogenous pain facilitation was characteristic of pain in patients with CFS but not in patients with MS, suggesting a greater role for central sensitization in CFS.