Designing a Multidimensional Pain Assessment Tool for Critically Ill Elderly Patients: An Agenda for Future Research

Managing older adults' fear of coronavirus disease: A new role for social work practice

As the number of patients infected with the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (nCOVID-19) increases, the number of deaths has also been increasing. According to World Health Organization (WHO), as of 4 October 2020, 34,804,348 cases had tested positive for nCOVID-19 globally, which among them, 1,030,738 confirmed deaths had occurred, equivalent to a case-fatality rate of 2.96%. However, in comparison with global statistics, the incidence and mortality of the nCOVID-19 infection are higher in Iran. As reported by the National Committee on COVID-19 Epidemiology of Ministry of Health of Iran, the total number of patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection has reached 468,119, of which 26,746 have died, equivalent to a case-fatality rate of 5.71%. Currently, there is solid evidence that older adults are at a higher risk of severe disease following infection from COVID-19.

The Effect of Self-Management Educational Program on Pain Intensity in Elderly Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Clinical Trial

BACKGROUND

Osteoarthritis is one of the chronic diseases that greatly affect the health and life quality of individuals.

AIM

This study aimed to determine the effect of self-management educational program on the pain intensity of the elderly patients with knee osteoarthritis.

METHODS

In a randomised clinical trial, a total of 82 elderly patients with knee osteoarthritis were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. The intervention group received six sessions of self-management group education, while the control group received only the routine care during this period. In both groups, patients' pain intensity, with a visual analogue scale (VAS), were assessed before, immediately after and eight weeks after the start of the study.

RESULTS

The mean pain intensity scores of the intervention and control groups were not significantly different before the intervention (P = 0.9), but after the intervention, the mean pain intensity score in the intervention group (3.61 ± 2.36) was significantly lower than that of the control group (4.93 ± 2.00), (P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSION

Implementation of a self-management program for the patients with knee osteoarthritis is useful in reducing their pain intensity and can be used as one of the effective methods for their empowerment.