Pain In Dementia

313 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Pain assessment dementia literature review

Summary: This journal explains how there is a correlation between pain and neuropsychiatric symptoms. The journal talks about how pain is a symptom of many dementia clients that goes untreated and then could end up causing neuropsychiatric symptoms for the client. In elderly clients facial expressions and body language is how emotions are interpreted many times. The problem with this is that the symptoms for pain are very similar to those of neuropsychiatric symptoms. Differentiation between these is very important so that the patient can be treated properly. As stated in the journal untreated pain could cause a distressing mood, aggression, or agitation in clients with dementia. The three women that wrote this journal have so much experience

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of A Life Worth Ending By Michael Wolff

    1963 Words  | 4 Pages

    Illness and pain are by fare two of the worst things we could ever see happen to a loved one. Moreover, know that illness and pain is irreversible and sometimes fatal. Most illness in our older loved ones are caused by the fact that their body is aging. “Older adults experience more chronic illnesses than any other age group (Merck Research Laboratories, 1997).” (Brown 93). “The elderly, especially those over 80 years of age are the fastest growing population in the US, and the elderly report more pain than younger persons.” (Karen Bellenir 57). Michael Wolff discusses his mother’s illnesses and how it is effecting her everyday life. He goes a step further and paints a picture of how it makes him feel, in turn Wolff is able to capture the reader and draw them close to his opinion. “She strains for cognition and shockingly, sometimes bursts forward, reaching it – “Nice suit,” she said to me, out of the blue, a few months ago- before falling back. That is the thing that

    Read More

  • Dilemmas in Elderly Healthcare: Mrs. Takahashi's Case

    1106 Words  | 3 Pages

    Takahashi’s past wishes will help the healthcare team understand the patient’s current quality of life relative to her being before the onset of dementia and even prior to the stroke. A person’s quality of life appears different to different people, hence the disagreement among grandchildren. Mrs. Takahashi has a 5-10% chance of returning to a life of meaningful quality with aggressive treatment that will more than likely include significant suffering. Physicians in the past have noted that when treating patients similar to Mrs. Takahashi the healing process was not always effective, patients were susceptible to other illnesses, and mobility was fixed to a wheelchair or bed at best. A study conducted by Morrison and Siu (2000) followed acutely ill patients with end stage dementia and a poor prognosis to determine if emphasis should switch from curative interventions to palliative care. The first group of participants included demented patients with either pneumonia or hip fractures, and the second group included cognitively intact older adults with similar injuries. The researchers found that for the elderly with pneumonia, the mortality rate was 53% in demented patients and only 13% for non-demented patients. An identical trend was seen in the participants with hip fractures, producing a mortality rate of 55% in demented patients and 12% in non-demented individuals. Both types of participants received an equal amount of intense procedures yet mortality rates drastically differed, leading to the conclusion that healthcare teams should focus their efforts to enhance comfort in the demented patient population (Morrison & Siu 2000). Given the poor prognosis, the Ethics Committee finds it imperative that the healthcare team learn more about Mrs. Takahashi’s preferences and family relationships prior to dementia and recommend treating the patient via palliative care if there is no substantial improvement in her health after a limited time of aggressive

    Read More

  • How Does Alzheimer's Affect Society

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    (Davidson, F. G.) Due to the nature of dementia being a neuropsychological disorder, those affected by the disease tend to look like they will not require much care, which, in reality, they often require more care than the caregiver originally expected, leading to stress and burnout. Another effect caused by this can be the caregiver blaming themselves by feeling like they are failing to give proper care, which, in reality, can often be very far from the truth. If the caregiver does not receive help from anyone else, the task of watching over the victim becomes a daunting twenty for hour task. Sometimes, the caregiver won’t be allowed quality sleep. Over 66 percent of home caregivers suffer from some form of psychological or physical illness. The most common illness that is resulted from giving care to Alzheimer’s disease is depression. The caregiver needs to monitor their emotional well-being as well as the well-being as the person that they are giving care to. Usually, giving care to those with dementia is actually more stressful than giving care to those with cancer. When the caregiver is a family member and not a professional, the emotional toll is often even greater. It is important for caregivers to remember that they need to take care of themselves first and

    Read More

  • Assessment of Post-Operative Pain in Dementia Patients

    1954 Words  | 4 Pages

    Pain management. (n.d.) Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing. (2012). Retrieved April 30 2014 from http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/pain+management

    Read More

  • Case Study Of Dementia

    1210 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dementia is a difficult disease to understand and handle. A major problem involving these patients are caregivers that are not properly trained and educated to care for people with the disease resulting in issues such as neglect and abuse.

    Read More

  • Dementia Effects the Elderly and Their Caregivers

    718 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dementia is common among a large population of elderly people. The disease affects not only the individual diagnosed, but also the caregivers that work towards making their life comfortable in the end. Understanding and learning about the disease is crucial in helping those that experience or live with someone who has dementia. The services and support that are currently in affect for elderly people with dementia and the caregivers is poor, and ineffective because of the lack of research and information on the topic.

    Read More

  • Substance Abuse and the Elderly

    2005 Words  | 5 Pages

    Mavandadi, S., Ten Have, T. R., Katz, I. R., Durai, U. B., Krahn, D. D., Llorente, M. D., & ... Oslin, D. W. (2007). Effect of Depression Treatment on Depressive Symptoms in Older Adulthood: The Moderating Role of Pain. Journal Of The American Geriatrics Society, 55(2), 202-211. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2007.01042.x

    Read More

  • Social Work with Dementia Patients

    1782 Words  | 4 Pages

    The human brain is extraordinary organ. It stores our memories, vision, hearing, speech, and capable of executing executive higher reasoning and functions setting us apart from animals. Today we know more about the human brain because of medical advances and the development of technology. These brain disorders have been studied for years and many others would classify dementia as a mental illness because it causes cognitive impairments. The following paragraphs will discuss what dementia is, what the types of dementia are, perspectives of patients with dementia as well as the perspective of a caregiver to a dementia patient.

    Read More

  • Pain Assessment Of Dementia Patients

    154 Words  | 1 Pages

    It is evident from the literature that, the adverse effects of dementia make changes in patients quality of life by changing their behavioural and functional abilities including expression of feelings or communicational skills. As a result, it becomes a challenge for the health care provider to assess or identify pain or symptoms of pain in dementia patients when they are unable to articulate their needs. Using a pain measurement tool helps the health care provider to meet this challenge, thus improve the pain management in persons with severe cognitive impairment. Throughout the research, in order to find out the suitable diagnostic tool for pain assessment in patients with advanced dementia, author reviewed studies on different pain assessment

    Read More

  • Dementia Argumentative Study

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    STEEMAN, E., DE CASTERLÉ, B. D., GODDERIS, J. & GRYPDONCK, M. 2006. Living with early-stage dementia: a review of qualitative studies. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 54, 722-738.

    Read More

  • Theory of Caregiver Stress and its Practice in Nursing

    1134 Words  | 3 Pages

    Leggett, A., Zarit, S., Taylor, A., & Galvin, J. (2010). Stress and burden among caregivers of patients with lewy body dementia. The Gerontologist, 51(1), 76-85.

    Read More

  • Pain Management and Palliative Care

    1313 Words  | 3 Pages

    Management of pain is very important when it comes to palliative care patients, considering that 55-95% of this patient population requires analgesia for pain relief (Creedon & O’Regan, 2010, p. [ 257]). But what is considered pain management? And why does pain continue to be inadequately treated? According to the article on chronic non-cancer pain in older people: evidence for prescribing, in the past few decades significant improvements have been made to the management of pain in palliative care. However, it is universally acknowledged that pain on a global scale remains inadequately treated because of cultural, attitudinal, educational, legal, and systemic reasons (Creedon & O’Regan, 2010, p. ...

    Read More

  • Understanding Dementia in the Elderly

    518 Words  | 2 Pages

    Delirium, Depression, and Dementia are some of the most common psychological diagnoses in the elderly today. The three D’s are difficult to differentiate between in older adults because they overlap with each other and can all exist in the same patient at once. Delirium, Dementia, and Depression all affect the elderly’s quality of life and often increase the risks for one another (Downing, Caprio & Lyness, 2013). For the purpose of this paper I will be focusing primarily on the diagnosis of Dementia, the prevention, and nursing measures associated with it, but first I would like to differentiate between Delirium and Depression because Dementia is often associated with the two in the older adult population.

    Read More

  • Dementia And Dementia

    548 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dementia is a major neurocognitive disorder that interferes with the independence of the elderly by inhibiting memory and thinking skills. Fifty to eighty percent of dementia cases constitute of Alzheimer’s diagnoses; consequently Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia and currently affects 5.2 million Americans. Most of these cases are patients above the age of 65 and by 2050; 13.8 million Americans in total will suffer Alzheimer’s due to aging of the general population, specifically the baby boomers. Total cost to society ranges from $157- $215 billion (Associated Press). Some would assume the cost of Alzheimer’s to be incurred by pharmaceuticals or medical costs, however RAND Corp suggests dementia cost to society is from care rather than treatment. Therefore, assistance provided by informal providers and directs caregivers incur a majority of the financial and social cost. Currently, the workforce does not have the capacity or training to care for these unique patients; the delivery system needs to address Alzheimer’s as the population ages and more and more fam...

    Read More

  • Mental Health Of The Elderly Essay

    1521 Words  | 4 Pages

    The elderly represents a large amount of the population in our society and continues to grow each day. As the population grows, it is important to meet the demands and resolve the challenges that we encounter in regards to the overall quality of health and well-being of the elderly. Mental health of the elderly is a major issue but majority of the time goes unnoticed and untreated by caregivers and loved ones. About 20 percent of adults 55 and older are suffering from some type of mental health disorder, and one in three elderly adults do not receive any type of treatment (The State of Mental Health, 2008). Those suffering from mental illness are hesitant to seek out help or any type of treatment because of the stigma, services and cost for care that then comes with mental health disorders. Mental health issues that affect elderly include dementia, delirium, and psychosis. Some of the most common conditions include anxiety, mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder and cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer’s disease. Mental health is essential to the

    Read More

More about Pain In Dementia

Open Document