An evaluation of clinical tools to measure pain in older people with cognitive impairment

Pain in older people with cognitive impairment is often untreated or under-treated despite the fact that the likelihood of having pain increases with advanced age. One reason that pain is poorly managed in older people is that it is not detected. Assessing pain is an integral part of clinical practice and is required for effective pain management. However, systematically measuring pain intensity and location with standardized tools in older people has not been well studied. This article will summarize tools used to assess pain in older people, inducing self-report scales measuring pain intensity, the presence or absence of pain, pain location and pain behaviour scales. Identifying the advantages and disadvantages of these clinical assessment tools has implications for nursing practice, research and education.