Teresita Hogan, is an emergency physician, a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago concentrating in geriatric emergency medicine, and a GEDC core faculty member. Throughout her research, Hogan learned that patients with dementia received poor pain assessments and inferior pain treatment due to their limited communication availability. To address this issue, she has received a pilot grant from the National Institute on Aging to promote the use of the PAIN-Advanced Dementia Scale among busy emergency department clinicians. Known as the PAINAD scale, this tool is a helpful assessment for patients with advanced dementia who are unable to provide a numeric pain score.
“Nursing education and a computer decision support tool containing the PAINAD scale for emergency department use may prompt improved emergency pain assessment and treatment for people living with advanced dementia.”