title: Stakeholder opinions on a transformational model of pain management in long-term care.
abstract: Pain in older adults with dementia who reside in long-term care (LTC) facilities tends to be undertreated, despite important guidelines designed to ameliorate this problem. A group of public policy and geriatric pain experts recently concluded that existing guidelines are not being implemented because they fail to take into account policy and resource realities. The group published a set of more feasible guidelines that confront these realities (e.g., a recommendation for very brief pain assessments that can be conducted by nursing staff at least weekly). We asked stakeholders to provide opinions on the possibility of implementation of these guidelines within their LTC facilities. Our results support the feasibility of, interest in, and desirability of implementation. They also support an increased role for nurse leadership in LTC pain management. These results could be used to strengthen advocacy efforts for improvement in pain management.
authors.affiliation: Centre on Aging and Health and Department of Psychology, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. hadjistt@wregina.ca
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hadjistavropoulos
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Janzen Claude
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hadjistavropoulos
authors.forename: Gregory P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Marchildon
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaasalainen
authors.forename: Romayne
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gallagher
authors.forename: B Lynn
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Beattie
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016134:Organizational Policy; D059408:Pain Management; D010147:Pain Measurement