Pain assessment in impaired cognition: observer agreement in a long-term care setting in patients with dementia

Aim: To study the application of the meta-tool Pain Assessment in Impaired Cognition (PAIC) in a clinical setting in patients with moderate to severe dementia. Materials & methods: Observational study in five Dutch nursing homes, where residents were observed by nurses or nurse-assistants during rest and movement. Prevalence and observer agreement of individual items were examined. Results: An observer agreement of >= 70% was found for most items of the body movement domain and vocalization domain, although prevalence of these behaviors was low (especially during rest). Items of the facial expression domain had a percentage agreement <70%, especially during movement, but with high prevalence of behaviors. Conclusion: The pain assessment in impaired cognition items show promising interobserver and intraobserver agreement in a clinical setting.