[PGM2175] Pain Assessment in Persons with Dementia: Are They in Pain?

Summary: A closer look at pain recognition and assessment in persons with dementia.

HCSSA Topic(s) Addressed:

• §97.259[d][4]agency responsibilities
• §97.260[a][5]quality improvement
• §97.260[a][8]skills for working with clients, families, and other professional service providers

Faculty: Shega, Joseph

Program Description: Pain assessment is the lynchpin to adequate pain treatment in persons with and without dementia. This program reviews the epidemiology of pain followed by a physiologic-based discussion to debate whether or not persons with dementia experience pain differently than cognitively intact individuals. Viewers will be able to develop tools to comprehensively assess pain in persons with dementia adapting an integrated approach that includes self-report (when possible), consideration of co-morbid conditions, pain behaviors, proxy report, and an empiric analgesic trial. These tools are followed by a series of patient cases that reinforce the concepts detailed in the presentation.

Program Objectives: Upon completion of this program, the viewer will be able to:

• Discuss the problem of pain in older adults with dementia.
• Manage challenges associated with pain recognition and assessment in persons with dementia.
• Evaluate strategies for assessing pain in the person with dementia, including those unable to self-report.

About the Presenter: Joseph W. Shega, MDis an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago. Dr. Shega's research focuses on enhancing the care and outcomes of persons with cognitive impairment through the integration of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine. This includes investigations into improving the assessment and treatment of pain as well as expanding our understanding of the relationship between pain and other physical symptoms with cognitive, functional, and behavioral outcomes in persons with progressive neurodegenerative disorders. Finally, he is interested in the development of innovative care models for persons with advanced illness particularly those with dementia including the role and impact of hospice on end of life care.

Education-Training Credits:

• 1.00 Hr(s) HCSSA Administrator/Alternate

[PGM2175] Pain Assessment in Persons with Dementia: Are They in Pain?