How To Try This: Educational Video on Pain Assessment in Older Adults
(1 hour)
Audiovisual media has been developed to help teach how to assess pain in older adults. A comprehensive one-hour video is available, as well as three shorter video segments that can be used for shorter in-services.
This FREE 1-hour video contains content on assessment of both cognitively intact and cognitively impaired older adults and relevant for the nursing home population.
Three assessment tools are discussed and demonstrated for use with cognitively intact people including the: 1) numeric rating scale; 2) verbal descriptor scale; and 3) faces pain scale. The assessment tool that is demonstrated in the video for cognitively impaired people is the PAINAD (Pain Assessment IN Alzheimer’s Disease). The video can be downloaded onto a computer or DVD and shown to groups of people using a projector.
Access the video: Scroll down and click on Pain Assessment in Older Adults
NOTE: You will be asked to provide email address and complete a brief survey before you can view the video.
Shorter Segments of the Video
The Pain Assessment Video is available in 3 shorter segments that demonstrate one aspect of pain assessment. These can be accessed as ‘chapters’ that can be viewed separately. Each chapter is described below:
Chapter 1: Pain Assessment: Three Tools for Quantifying the Presence and Level of Pain.
This is a 15-minute video segment that focuses on using pain rating scales in cognitively intact older adults in a nursing home and follow-up interdisciplinary team meeting. Scroll down and click on Chapter 1.
Chapter 2: Using the PAINAD: How To Assess Pain in Older Adults with Limited Verbal Capacity.
This is an 18-minute video segment that discusses pain assessment in cognitively impaired people and demonstrates the PAINAD assessment in two cognitively impaired older adults in a nursing home. Scroll down and click on Chapter 2.
Chapter 3: Pain in Older Adults: Prevalance, Myths and the Need for Ongoing Assessment
This is a 25-minute video on prevalence of pain, myths, and the need for ongoing assessment. Scroll down and click on Chapter 3.
Companion Articles--How To Try This: Pain Assessment in Older Adults
Two companion articles for the video have been published in the American Journal of Nursing. These can be accessed directly with Ctrl+Click on the addresses below, and then click on either printer-friendly version or PDF version. CE credits can be obtained for each article for a fee of $21.95.
Flaherty, E. (2008). How to try this: Using pain rating scales with older adults. American Journal of Nursing. 108(6), 40-47.
Article Overview: Pain is often undertreated and underdiagnosed in older adults. Regular use of short, simple, reliable pain-rating scales provides nurses and physicians with measurable information to establish and modify a pain management plan. This article describes the use of three widely used pain-rating scales: the numeric rating scale, the verbal descriptor scale, and the Faces Pain Scale–Revised.
Horgas, AL, & Miller, LL. (2008). How to try this: Assessing pain in persons with dementia. American Journal of Nursing. 108(7), 62-70.
Article Overview: Pain in older adults is very often undertreated, and it may be especially so in older adults with severe dementia. Changes in a patient's ability to communicate verbally present special challenges in treating pain, and unrelieved pain can have serious consequences, including declines in physical function and diminished appetite. The Pain Assessment in Advanced Dementia (PAINAD) scale has been designed to assess pain in this population by looking at five specific indicators: breathing, vocalization, facial expression, body language, and consolability. A trained nurse or other health care worker can use the scale in less than five minutes of observation.