**7.3 Barriers and challenges of pain management in older persons**

There are many barriers and challenges to the management of pain in older persons [9, 14, 37, 48]. Pain poses a challenge for both senior citizens and their caregivers [13, 37, 38, 42].


## **8. Consequences of untreated pain in older persons**

There are several effects if pain is not adequately or improperly treated in the older persons, these include:


#### **9. Post-operative pain management in older persons**

There has been an increase in the incidence of older persons requiring surgical interventions which it requires proper and adequate pain management after the surgery [38]. Adequate perioperative and post-operative pain management in older persons reduces the risk of post-operative delirium [38]. Use of regional anesthesia reduces postoperative complications and improves postoperative pain control [41, 50]. Multimodal drug therapy should be instituted as it has the advantage of minimizing both the dosages and side effects of any single agent [38, 41, 50].

#### **10. Pain management in nursing homes**

Pain is common among residents of institutionalized homes [21, 48]; this presents multifaceted challenges for healthcare practitioners [27]. It provokes a significant challenge to the nursing home caregivers in terms of their ability to provide adequate treatment [48]. Generally patients residing in nursing homes are more frail that other older persons living in the community [48].
