A new study is one of the few to examine pain in non communicative residents with dementia, writes Megan Stoyles.

Enrolled nurses and personal care attendants in aged care facilities are better at recognising pain in non verbal residents with dementia than registered nurses, according to a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funded study. Dr Pamela Johnson, manager of aged care at Melbourne City Mission, studied 186 people in several aged care facilities for her doctorate, and recently described the findings to a pain network forum in Melbourne. "Musculoskeletal diseases are common in older people. In addition, contractures are common in several stages of dementia, but self-reporting of...