Pain Assessment and Management

1. Pain Assessment and Management

2. Module 1: Pain in residents in RACFs • Pain is a personal experience, occurring when and where the resident says it does. • Pain management in RACFs is not addressed well. The incidence of pain is higher in residents who have impaired cognition or a communicative disability. • There are multiple barriers to effective pain management which are related to false beliefs and attitudes of residents, families and health professionals

3. Module 2 : Pain • The perception of pain can be influenced by the resident’s mood, past pain experiences, social and physical situation. • Pain can be classified as acute, chronic, nociceptive, neuropathic and incident pain.

4. Module 3 : Pain Assessment • Pain assessment tools provide a framework for staff to obtain an accurate pain assessment and assists in determining response and on-going treatment for the pain. • The pain tool used needs to be appropriate for the residents cognition abilities. • Collaboration between doctors nurses, family and other care staff is the key to effective pain assessment.

5. Module 4 : Pain Management • Medications should be tailored to the type of pain and its severity. • Follow the WHO pain management principles – by the mouth, by the clock, by the ladder and monitor the outcome. • Ensure laxatives are prescribed routinely when step-two and step-three analgesics are prescribed. • A breakthrough order of a short-acting opioid should always be prescribed for residents on step-three analgesics. • Consideration of age-related changes in drug sensitivity, metabolism and side effects is essential. • Consider the use of non-pharmacological interventions. • Health care providers must always be informed of CAM therapies for safety reasons and to enable the team to develop a comprehensive treatment plan based on the needs of the resident.