Pain in people with dementia is
increasingly recognised as both underassessed
and undertreated. This review
discusses the main barriers to effective
assessment and management of pain in
this population, strategies to overcome
these barriers, and the implications of such
strategies for practitioners and
researchers. There appear to be gaps in
nursing knowledge and inaccurate beliefs
about pain in dementia, and further
education may address these. More
research is necessary to explore barriers
and develop further evidence-based
strategies to tackle them. Nurses need to
be aware of these barriers and become
active in overcoming them.