[Pain management for older care receivers in the ambulatory care setting]

Chronic pain experienced by care receivers who live in their own homes is an issue of great importance, due to its frequency and intensity. The impacts of pain in this vulnerable group are manifested particularly in the form of marked adverse effects on mobility and activity.

Both physicians and staff of the ambulatory care services involved communicate too rarely about pain, its intensity and duration, with the pain-affected care receiver.

The deficient pain therapy provided by ambulatory care services for pain-affected care receivers needs to be checked to ensure that medication is appropriate, that the simultaneous prescription of continuous and acute medication, and the clear information on dosage and dosing intervals is given on binding medication charts.

Too little attention has been paid up to now to the challenges of interdisciplinary care for older care receivers in the ambulatory care setting, although interdisciplinarity in pain management has long been a stated requirement. Multidisciplinary action based on agreed guidelines and standards is the key to appropriate pain management. The interface communication between professional groups needs to be optimized in order to provide adequate care for the care receiver.