Mrs D was a 92 year old lady admitted to hospital after being found collapsed on her kitchen floor. She was delirious and it was unclear how long since she had fallen. She had a fractured hip and pneumonia.
The admitting team felt that her prognosis was very poor and that palliative care should be commenced. She was referred to the in-patient pain team as she appeared in pain during the provision of basic care and nursing staff were concerned about using intravenous opioids to assist with this.
Before continuing, consider the following questions:
- Is there any other information you would like to know?
- How would you assess pain in a patient such as Mrs D?
