TY - JOUR AU - Bonin-Guillaume, Sylvie AU - Rat, Patrice PY - 2020 DA - 2020/12/07 TI - An Algorithm to Optimize Pain Detection and Management in Older Patients in Routine Practice JO - OBM Geriatrics SP - 141 VL - 04 IS - 04 AB - Acute or persistent pain is a common occurrence and is often undertreated in older patients, especially those with an inability to communicate verbally (ICV). Regular comprehensive pain assessment, including self-rating and/or behavior scales, is critical but difficult to implement in routine clinical practice. The choice of the most appropriate scale for each patient is not easy, even for trained and skilled medical personnel. Indeed, the use of scales for short pain-behavior exposes to pain under-detection due to false-negative results, whereas extensive behavior scales are time-consuming, require pre-rating knowledge of the patient, and can also yield false-positive scores because of an overlap between pain-associated behaviors and those of other non-painful conditions (i.e., dementia, delirium, or depression). We describe the process used to devise an at-a-glance algorithm targeting medical personnel. This algorithm combines short and long pain scales specifically validated for geriatric populations with ICV or without. This algorithm has been tested by health workers in several settings. The final version of this algorithm reliably detected nociceptive acute or chronic pain in older patients and can easily be applied to older patients in routine practice in any setting. This algorithm ensured a rapid and easy-to-use comprehensive assessment of pain in older patients to determine the need for analgesic administration. SN - 2638-1311 UR - https://doi.org/10.21926/obm.geriatr.2004141 DO - 10.21926/obm.geriatr.2004141 ID - Bonin-Guillaume2020 ER -