Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Can an observational pain assessment tool improve time to analgesia for cognitively impaired older persons? A cluster randomised controlled trial.
The primary objective of the study was to measure the impact of an observational pain assessment dementia tool on time from ED arrival to first dose of analgesic medicine. ⋯ Use of the PAINAD was not associated with a shorter time to analgesia, although there was a clinically important but non-significant improvement in the cognitively impaired patient group. Further research is needed to address this clinically important and complex issue.