1. Use of analgesics in acute stroke patients with inability to self-report pain: a retrospective cohort study
- Author
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J. Schuster, C. Hoyer, A. Ebert, and A. Alonso
- Subjects
Stroke ,Pain ,Inability to communicate ,Consciousness disorder ,Analgesia ,Neurology. Diseases of the nervous system ,RC346-429 - Abstract
Abstract Background Pain is a common and burdensome complication in patients with acute stroke. We assessed the impact of impaired communication in stroke patients on pain assessment and treatment. Methods We included 909 (507 male, mean age 71.8 years) patients admitted to our stroke unit from 01/2015 to 12/2015 in the analysis. Patients were assigned to four groups: able to communicate (AC), not able to communicate prior to index stroke (P-NAC), due to focal symptoms of index stroke (S-NAC), due to a reduced level of consciousness (C-NAC). Pain prevalence, documentation of pain and use of analgesics were evaluated. C-NAC patients were excluded from analyses regarding analgesic treatment due to relevant differences in patient characteristics. Results 746 patients (82.1%) were classified as AC, 25 (2.8%) as P-NAC, 90 (9.9%) as S-NAC and 48 (5.3%) as C-NAC. Pain was documented on the Numeric Rating Scale and in form of free text by nurses and physicians. Nurses documented pain more frequently than physicians (p
- Published
- 2020
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