Running Head: PROPERLY ASSESSING PAIN
Properly Assessing Pain in the Elderly
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Summary
This summary on properly assessing pain in the elderly is adapted from the article written for professionals by pain assessment experts. Under assessment of pain in the elderly is a significant problem that is common among health care professionals. Although pain is a universally experienced phenomenon, reactions to pain vary widely among the elderly. Some elderly patients may not even report problems with pain. Pain is defined as a subjective experience, therefore nurses should not only rely on common signs and symptoms of pain, one has to rely on the individual's own perception as well as verbal and nonverbal expressions in assessing and evaluating the pain experience.
Nurses should be aware that pain may be expressed by observing signs of guarding, moaning, facial grimacing, agitation, rigidity, hypersensitivity to touch, the patient reporting a change in appetite or......
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Approximate Word Count: 1012
Approximate Pages: 4 (260 words per double-spaced page) |