J Gerontol Nurs
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To ensure patients will be discharged to stable, health-promoting home environments, nurses must understand family caregivers' perceptions of the patients' needs and problems in caring for them. At the time patients were admitted to and discharged from the hospital, there was little agreement between family caregivers and nurses about the kinds of things caregivers needed to care for older patients or about problems that might prevent the continuation of caregiving. There was slightly more overall agreement between family care-givers and admission nurses than discharge nurses, despite the fact that discharge nurses reported spending more time with patients and being more knowledgeable about them. Future discharge planning models should build opportunities for nurses to communicate with other health care colleagues who can contribute to a more accurate and complete picture of patients' and family caregivers' needs and problems in the transition from hospital to home.
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The purposes of this study were to examine the relationship between: (1) nurses' ratings of pain and corresponding administration of pain medication to elderly long-term care residents, and (2) cognitive status of the elderly and pain medication orders/administration. Participants were 83 residents, 60 years of age and older, in two groups: cognitively impaired (n = 64), and cognitively intact (n = 19). For comparison purposes, 19 of the cognitively impaired subjects were matched on age and diagnosis to provide control for potentially painful conditions. ⋯ Results indicated that RNs' ratings of resident pain and the administration of pain medications were not significantly correlated. In addition, cognitively impaired residents were prescribed significantly less scheduled medication and received significantly less pain medication (either p.r.n. or scheduled) than the cognitively intact elderly. Implications for practice and research are discussed.