Acceptability of Pain Behaviour Observational Methods (PBOMs) for use by nursing home staff

Pain assessment and management in care homes: understanding the context through a scoping review

Background

Internationally, 2–5% of people live in residential or nursing homes, many with multi-morbidities, including severe cognitive impairment. Pain is frequently considered an expected part of old age and morbidity, and may often be either under-reported by care home residents, or go unrecognized by care staff. We conducted a systematic scoping review to explore the complexity of pain recognition, assessment and treatment for residents living in care homes, and to understand the contexts that might influence its management.

Methods

Scoping review using the methodological framework of Levac and colleagues. Articles were included if they examined pain assessment and/or management, for care or nursing home residents. We searched Medline, CINAHL, ASSIA, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar; reference lists were also screened, and website searches carried out of key organisations. Conversations with 16 local care home managers were included to gain an understanding of their perspective.

Results

Inclusion criteria were met by 109 studies. Three overarching themes were identified: Staff factors and beliefs - in relation to pain assessment and management (e.g. experience, qualifications) and beliefs and perceptions relating to pain. Pain assessment – including use of pain assessment tools and assessment/management for residents with cognitive impairment. Interventions - including efficacy/effects (pharmaceutical/non pharmaceutical), and pain training interventions and their outcomes.

Overall findings from the review indicated a lack of training and staff confidence in relation to pain assessment and management. This was particularly the case for residents with dementia.

Conclusions

Further training and detailed guidelines for the appropriate assessment and treatment of pain are required by care home staff. Professionals external to the care home environment need to be aware of the issues facing care homes staff and residents in order to target their input in the most appropriate way.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-021-02333-4.

The impact of a pain assessment intervention on pain score and analgesic use in older nursing home residents with severe dementia: A cluster randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Pain is highly prevalent in older adults, especially those in institutional settings such as nursing homes. The presence of dementia may increase the risk of underdiagnosed and undertreated pain. Pain assessment tools are not regularly used in clinical practice, however, there are indications that the regular use of pain assessments tools may influence the recognition of pain by nursing staff and thereby affect pain management.

OBJECTIVES

To assess whether regular pain assessment using a pain assessment tool is associated with changes in i) pain scores and ii) analgesic use in nursing home residents with severe dementia.

DESIGN

Cluster-randomised controlled trial.

SETTING

The study was conducted in 16 nursing homes in four counties in Norway.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 112 nursing home residents aged 65 years and older with dementia who lacked the capacity for self-reporting pain or were non-verbal.

METHODS

The experimental group were regularly assessed pain with a standardised pain scale (the Doloplus-2) twice a week for a 12-week intervention period. The control group received usual care. The primary outcome was pain score measured with the Doloplus-2, and the secondary outcome was analgesic use (oral morphine equivalents and milligram/day paracetamol). Data on the outcomes were collected at baseline and at the end of week 12. The nursing staff in both the experimental and the control groups received training to collect the data. Linear mixed models were used to assess possible between-group difference over time.

RESULTS

No overall effect of regular pain assessment was found on pain score or analgesic use. The mean score of Doloplus-2 and analgesic use remained unchanged and above the established cut-off in both groups.

CONCLUSION

The current intervention did not change analgesic use or pain score compared with the control condition. However, there is not sufficient evidence to conclude that regular pain assessment using a pain assessment tool is not clinically relevant. Furthermore, our results indicated that pain continued to be inadequately treated in nursing home residents with severe dementia. Therefore, further research on how standardised pain assessment can be used to support effective pain management in this population is needed.

Adherence of pain assessment to the German national standard for pain management in 12 nursing homes

BACKGROUND

Pain is very common among nursing home residents. The assessment of pain is a prerequisite for effective multiprofessional pain management. Within the framework of the German health services research project, 'Action Alliance Pain-Free City Muenster', the authors investigated pain assessment adherence according to the German national Expert Standard for Pain Management in Nursing, which is a general standard applicable to all chronic⁄acute pain-affected persons and highly recommended for practice.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the state of pain assessment and to identify need for improvement in 12 nursing homes in a German city.

METHODS

In the present study, the authors used an ex-post-facto design (survey methodology). Available written policies for routine pain assessment in residents ≥65 years of age were reviewed and a standardized online survey completed by 151 of 349 nurses in 12 nursing home facilities was conducted between September 2010 and April 2011.

RESULTS

Most of the included nursing homes provided written policies for pain assessment, and the majority of nurses reported that they assess and regularly reassess pain. However, observational tools for residents with severe cognitive impairment and written reassessment schedules were lacking in many facilities or were inconsistent.

CONCLUSIONS

Essentially, pain assessment appeared to be feasible in the majority of the German nursing homes studied. However, the absence or inconsistency of reassessment schedules indicate that pain management guidelines should include a detailed and explicit reassessment schedule for the heterogenic needs of nursing home residents. For residents with severe cognitive impairment, assessment tools are needed that are simple to use and clearly indicate the presence or absence of pain.

Implementation of observational pain management protocol to improve pain management for long-term institutionalized older care residents with dementia: study protocol for a cluster-randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Systematic use of observational pain tools has been advocated as a means to improve pain management for care home residents with dementia. Pain experts suggest that any observational tool should be used as part of a comprehensive pain management protocol, which should include score interpretation and verification with appropriately suggested treatments. The Observational Pain Management Protocol (Protocol) was therefore developed. This study aims to investigate the extent to which the implementation of this Protocol can improve pain management in care home residents with dementia.

METHODS/DESIGN

In this two-group, single-blinded, cluster-randomized controlled trial, 122 care home residents with dementia and pain-related diagnoses will be recruited from eight care homes (that is 15 to 16 residents from each care home). Invitations will be sent to all local care homes who meet the home selection criteria. The eight care homes will be randomly selected from all care homes that agree to join this trial. They will then be randomized to either the control or experimental conditions. Participants from each care home will be placed into their home's corresponding group to avoid 'contamination' effects across participants. Each intervention cycle will take 16 weeks (that is, baseline assessment and care home staff training for 4 weeks and Protocol implementation for 12 weeks). The Protocol will guide the pain management of the participants in the experimental care homes. Meanwhile, the control care homes will continue their usual pain management strategies. Intervention effects will be measured weekly during the protocol implementation period and compared with the baseline measurements, as well as between the experimental and control conditions.

DISCUSSION

Although similar pain protocols have been suggested previously, the recommendations were based on experts' opinions rather than evaluation of research studies. The feasibility and effectiveness of this kind of pain management protocol, tailored to older people with dementia, remains unknown. The findings of this trial will offer strong evidence that better strategies for pain management should be used in the care home daily routine.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Centre for Clinical Trials: CUHK-CCT00367.