Der Schmerz
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The diagnostics of pain in older people with cognitive impairments should always consist of a subjective self-report of pain and a structured observation of pain behavior. It is important to note that the subjective self-report of pain becomes less valid with increasing cognitive decline (starting with a moderate degree of dementia). ⋯ Moreover, the patient should be observed for at least 3 min. Online forms of training have recently been developed and are freely available for training in external observation.
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Self-reporting is the gold standard in pain assessment. However, this is not possible among adults who are unable to respond. Thus, the method of choice is to observe behavior in order to assess pain. Nurses rarely conduct pain observations because they do not feel educated enough to use such tools in vulnerable groups. The aim of the study is to analyze the pain situation among older adults (≥65 years) in need of care who are cognitively or physically unable to respond in the outpatient care setting. ⋯ Our findings indicate a deficit in regularly conducted pain assessment among older adults who are unable to respond and are in need of care in the outpatient care setting. An observation tool in that setting is urgently needed and would be a first step in optimizing pain assessment. We recommend conducting observations during regular nursing mobilization.
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Pain has a complex pathophysiology that is expressed in multifaceted and heterogeneous clinical phenotypes. This makes research on pain and its treatment a potentially data-rich field as large amounts of complex data are generated. Typical sources of such data are investigations with functional magnetic resonance imaging, complex quantitative sensory testing, next-generation DNA sequencing and functional genomic research approaches, such as those aimed at analgesic drug discovery or repositioning of drugs known from other indications as new analgesics. ⋯ In addition, knowledge discovery in big data accessible in electronic knowledge bases, can be used to generate hypotheses and to exploit the accumulated knowledge about pain for the discovery of new analgesic drugs. This enables so-called data-information-knowledge-wisdom (DIKW) approaches to be followed in pain research. This article highlights current examples from pain research to provide an overview about contemporary data scientific methods used in this field of research.
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Interdisciplinary multimodal pain therapy (IMPT) should be delivered in a personalized, mechanism- and goal-oriented manner on the basis of an individual case conception. To the authors' knowledge, a practical instrument for planning IMPT does not exist. ⋯ Based on the relevant interference mechanisms, goals for change and treatment are set and possible interventions are proposed. This involves explicitly including the patient's existing resources.