Screen Dementia Sufferers for Pain at Every Visit

Updated American Academy of Neurology and American Psychiatric Association metrics published in Neurology and the American Journal of Psychiatry advise clinicians to screen people with dementia for pain at every visit, reports MedPage Today . The authors noted the latest Dementia Management Quality Measurement Set contains improvements that show how care metrics are reinforced by current medical literature. "We refined the language and added key phrases that are likely used in clinical practice as examples to aid clinicians in identifying persons who are appropriate to have the quality measures applied to their care," said the University of South Florida's Susan Schultz. Areas covered by the metrics include: reporting diagnoses to customers and caregivers; supporting caregivers; assessing functional status; behavioral and psychiatric screening; safety risk screening; driving risk screening; discussing advance care planning; pain screening; and discussing drug treatments or lifestyle adjustment, if appropriate. The authors stressed that these metrics cover care for people with dementia only.