Smärtbehandling till patienter med misstänkt höftfraktur relaterat till patienternas mentala status : i ambulanssjukvårdens kontext

Sammanfattning: There are 18 000 cases of hip fracture in Sweden every year. Dementia is the strongest risk factor for hip fractures in the age of 60 to 90-year. According to current research, the most common method to assess pain is VAS (Visual Analogue). However, VAS is unreliable in assessing pain in patients with dementia or impaired communication disorders. The elderly experience pain in the same way as younger people. Inadequate pain relief is a risk factor for general health. An important cause of misinterpretation and/or underestimation of pain among the elderly is cognitive impairment and cognitive loss, which is relatively common in this age group. The work of an ambulance nurse is complex with ever shifting environments and situations. At the same time, the ambulance personnel have to make several independent decisions and carry them out. The aim of this study was to describe the treatment of pain in patients with suspected hip fracture within the ambulance care context. The method used was retrospective case control study with record analysis. Data were collected from a quality record regarding the “Hip track” in a midswede County. Two groups were created, the study group included patients with suspected dementia/ confusion and known dementia. The control group were patients where the record stating fully aware. The data were analyzed, accordance with quantitative descriptive and analytic design to answer the study questions. The study questions were how pain relief varied in relation to the patient's mental status and how the assessment of VAS differs in relation to the patient's mental status. The results showed that patients with suspected or known dementia received pain relief equally to cognitively intact patients. Likewise did the dosing of pain medication not differ significantly between the two groups. The usage of VAS in assessment and monitoring of pain was significantly lower in patients with suspected/known dementia compared to patients with intact cognition. The administration of pain relief to patients undergoing Xrays was limited in both groups, even though these patients rated high on VAS. In particular, the patients in the control group received small amounts of pain relief in relation to their assessed VAS.
 In conclusion, for patients with hip fractures the first medical contact is often the ambulance nurse. In patients with dementia/suspected dementia/confusion, the assessment using VAS occurs to a lesser extent compared to cognitively intact patients. There is room for improvement in the assessment of pain in patients with dementia due to difficulties in assessing VAS. Partly to confirm that pain is present, but also to assess its intensity in order to provide satisfying analgesia through the continuum of care, where the ambulance nurse is responsible for the patient. To the same extent, patients with hip fracture receive analgesia in the ambulance regardless of their mental status or whether pain assessment is performed in accordance with VAS. This might indicate that the ambulance nurse has the knowledge and skills to foresee the pain that the hip fractured patient is exposed to.