Skip Navigation



Age and Ageing Advance Access published online on March 17, 2006
Age and Ageing, doi:10.1093/ageing/afj067
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
35/3/257    most recent
afj067v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lövheim, H.
Right arrow Articles by Gustafson, Y.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Lövheim, H.
Right arrow Articles by Gustafson, Y.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received October 11, 2005
Accepted January 30, 2006

Article

Poor staff awareness of analgesic treatment jeopardises adequate pain control in the care of older people

Hugo Lövheim 1 *, Per-olof Sandman 2, Kristina Kallin 1, Stig Karlsson 1, and Yngve Gustafson 1

1 Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Geriatric Medicine, Umeå University, SE-901 85 Umeå, Sweden
2 Department of Nursing, Umeå University, SE-901 85 Umeå, Sweden

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Hugo Lövheim, E-mail: hugo.lovheim{at}germed.umu.se


  Abstract

Background: Undertreatment of pain is a common problem in geriatric care. The aim of this study was to compare the caring staff’s answers concerning the resident’s pain treatment with actual pharmacological pain treatment in a cross-sectional survey of the geriatric care population in the county of Västerbotten, Sweden.

Methods: A cross-sectional study in all geriatric care units in the county of Västerbotten, Sweden, including 3,724 inhabitants aged 65 years and over. The mean age was 83.3 and the number of cognitively impaired 2,047 (55.0%). Medication data were obtained from prescription records. The member of staff who knew the resident best judged their pain based on observations the preceding week.

Results: The reported pain prevalence in the sample was 56.7%. Of those residents reported to suffer from pain, 27.9% received no analgesics as regular medication. In 72.7% of those cases with reported pain and no pharmacological treatment, the staff member who knew the resident best still thought that the resident was receiving treatment for her/his pain.

Conclusion: A large proportion of the old people in geriatric care settings suffer from pain, and undertreatment of pain appears to be a significant problem. Even when the resident was not receiving pharmacological treatment for their pain, the assessor, who was expected to know the resident best, still believed in a majority of cases that the resident was receiving treatment. This highlights the need for better communication between the various professional categories involved in geriatric care.

Keywords: pain, analgesics, geriatrics, residential facilities, interdisciplinary communication, elderly.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.