Abstract:
Hospitalized elderly patients suffer from pain even though they do not come to the hospital with a pain related problem. Effective pain management will help relieve the elderly from the distress of pain. The aim of this research was to study pain experiences, depression and pain management in hospitalized elderly patients by using The Symptom Management Model. One hundred participants were selected by purposive sampling. Their age range was 60-85 years old. Data collection was conducted at the general medical wards of King Chulalonkorn Memorial Hospital during March to May 2000. Every participant was also screened for dementia and delirium by The Set Test. The Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) was used to assess pain and The Thai Geriatric Depression Scale (TGDS) was used to.assess depression. Data was collected by interviewing patients in two days after admission and again two days after the first interview. The results of this study indicated that most of the elderly patients suffered from moderate to severe pain as their worst pain in the 24 hours preceeding both assessments. There was no statistically significant difference between the worst pain in both assessments, but there was a statistically significant difference in all dimensions of pain interference. The worst pain intensity was correlated with all dimensions of pain interference. The most common pain interference in both assessments was in walking ability. The most common areas of pain in the first and second assessments were back pain and lower extremities, respectively. Depression scores of the elderly were in the mild level in both assessments, but there was a statistically significant difference in depression scores (p< .05). There was also a statistically significant relationship between worst pain and depression in the second assessment (p<.01). Pain is a symptom that needs management. Assessing pain as the fifth vital sign in all elderly patients on their admission and after each pain intervention is a method that contributes to effective pain management. Therefore, a program about effective pain management and correction of misconceptions of pain in the elderly patients will build up the knowledge of nurses about pain experienced by elderly patients.
Mahidol University. Mahidol University Library and Knowledge Center