[Pain and pain management in a nursing home : Results of a cross-sectional study]

Nursing home residents frequently experience pain as a result of diseases. As posited by Egle et al., the bio-psycho-social model asserts that pain can affect individuals in various ways. Nevertheless, the various dimensions of pain are often not considered in pain management, and in numerous instances, pain is not even recognized by nursing professionals. The objective of the present study is to assess the prevalence of pain and the interventions implemented to reduce pain in an Austrian nursing home.

For this descriptive cross-sectional study, convenience sampling in an Austrian nursing home was used. The focus of the data collection was to assess the prevalence, intensity, and duration of pain as well as the interventions used by the nurses to reduce pain.

Of 121 nursing home residents, 67 participated in the study: 39 residents had pain, whereby the majority had chronic pain. In total, 64 interventions were implemented, whereby most were pharmacological.

Nonpharmacological interventions play an important role in pain management. However, they were seldom used by nursing staff. The results of the study were discussed with nursing staff at the nursing home and based on the discussion, a summary of nonpharmacological interventions was created. The so-called "toolbox" is freely available and is intended to support nursing staff in deciding with nursing home residents which interventions to use to reduce pain.