Pain In The Elderly Essay
Andrade, D.C., Faria, J.W., Caramelli, P., Alvarenga, L., Galhardoni, R., & Siqueira, S.R…Teixeira, M.L. (2010): Pain: elderly patients. Arq Neuropsiquiatr 2011; 69(2-B): 387-394. The authors reviewed various double blind, randomized, controlled trials along with their systematic reviews to evaluate different methods of assessing and managing pain in demented and non-demented elderly people. They utilized articles published in Scopus, Pubmed and Web of Science from the years 1966 to 2010. In this literature they reviewed the physiology of pain in the elderly and the different available ways of assessment and management of their pain. World’s elderly population is on the rise because of the wider age span.
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Alzheimer’s patients can sense and discriminate pain because their cortical primary and secondary sensory areas and lateral thalamus are intact but the degenerative pathology of their disease affects the limbic system and prefrontal cortex, affecting their emotional response to pain.
Evaluation of the Elderly Patient with Pain Scales and Questionnaires
This scholarly article focuses on the importance of systematic evaluation of pain in demented elderly as most of them can’t describe or report pain; as a result their pain goes untreated. The authors described four important ways to evaluate pain, reviewing from different studies. Self-report tools. This is a direct and validated tool used while taking the history of pain from the patient. It comprises of several different scales. But the visual analogical scale (VAS) is used most commonly. If this is difficult to use, different scale should be used. Direct observation tools. This takes in account the body language, behavior and inter-personal relationship changes, verbalization, non-verbal sounds and emotional states, as direct measures to assess
Alzheimer’s patients can sense and discriminate pain because their cortical primary and secondary sensory areas and lateral thalamus are intact but the degenerative pathology of their disease affects the limbic system and prefrontal cortex, affecting their emotional response to pain.
Evaluation of the Elderly Patient with Pain Scales and Questionnaires
This scholarly article focuses on the importance of systematic evaluation of pain in demented elderly as most of them can’t describe or report pain; as a result their pain goes untreated. The authors described four important ways to evaluate pain, reviewing from different studies. Self-report tools. This is a direct and validated tool used while taking the history of pain from the patient. It comprises of several different scales. But the visual analogical scale (VAS) is used most commonly. If this is difficult to use, different scale should be used. Direct observation tools. This takes in account the body language, behavior and inter-personal relationship changes, verbalization, non-verbal sounds and emotional states, as direct measures to assess