PERSONS LIVING IN NURSING HOMES WITH PERSISTENT SEVERE PAIN

As reported in JAMA, 41.2% of nursing home residents who have pain on their first assessment experienced moderate daily pain or excruciating pain on their second assessment conducted 60 to 180 days later. The map below shows how this adjusted rate varies across the United States. For information on your state, click here.

2001 - US Average 41.63

2000 - US Average 41.73

1999 - US Average 41.48

We examined this quality indicator among three other cohorts:

1) Persons with terminal illness documents on the MDS.

2) Persons cognitively intact and able to report on their pain.

3) Persons with a diagnosis of cancer.

At the first time period, 43.4% of nursing home residents had any level of pain. Of those persons who are terminally ill, 44.3% had moderate daily or excruciating pain. Persistent severe pain was found at a rate of 48.3% among persons able to report on pain and 46.7% among those with cancer diagnosis.