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Pain Control in Older Adults
Many older adults experience pain, but there are limited guidelines to appropriately manage their pain. Additionally, assessment of pain control in older adult patients can be difficult because of impairments in cognition, hearing, and sight. Increasingly, acute care providers are challenged to manage pain in this unique population. This article will discuss the epidemiology and etiology of pain in the older adult population, the pathophysiology, tools for diagnosing pain in older adults with cognitive impairment, and appropriate multimodal pain management for older adult patients.