Introduction: Chronic pain in older people is a global health problem not only in terms of a negative subjective feeling, but also as a social and economic factor. Deterioration of functional capacity is one of the main symptoms of chronic pain; therefore, it should be assessed as a basic parameter in the life of older people. The aim of the study was to analyze the factors which have an impact on the functional capacity of older people with chronic pain. Material and methods: The study was conducted among 181 people over 65 suffering from chronic pain lasting more than 6 months. The study used a questionnaire that included questions about demographic and social characteristics and the following scales: Abbreviated Mental Score (AMTS), Personal Activities of Daily Living (PADL) by Katz, Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) by Lawton, Geriatric Pain Measure-24 (GPM-24). Results: In the study group, a positive correlation was found between: coexisting diseases and withdrawal due to pain, pain intensity, pain resulting from walking or from the effort from other activities, and in terms of the total GPM-24 score. A positive correlation was also found between the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and withdrawal due to pain, pain intensity, pain resulting from walking or from the effort from other activities, and in terms of the total GPM-24 score. A significantly negative correlation was found between: AMTS, ADL, IADL performance and: withdrawal due to pain, pain intensity, pain resulting from walking or from the effort from other activities, and in terms of total GPM-24 score. Conclusions: Chronic pain is more common in people with disabilities in basic and complex activities of daily living, with limited efficiency in cognitive functions and an increased sense of depression. The standard in everyday practice and clinical trials should be taking a history of chronic pain in every older person, monitoring the pain’s intensity and accompanying characteristics by using a multidimensional scale for assessing pain in older people.

Introduction Diagnosis of child cancer is a very difficult experience for parents, which can contribute to mental consequences. It is obvious that the parents’ well-being has an influence on psychical state of an ill child. The main aim of this work was to assess the prevalence of daily life...

Background: Hand hygiene (HH) is the simplest and the most fundamental means of hospital-acquired infection (HAI) prevention in both hospitals and long-term care facilities (LTCFs) which differ as to their structure, organization and epidemiology. The objective of this study was to evaluate the...

Demographic changes taking place in society require a holistic approach to the health problems of the elderly, including the chronic pain that often accompanies them in various disease entities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form (BPI-SF) among the elderly. The study was conducted on a group of 181 patients of both genders, over 65 years of age, with pain lasting longer than 6 months, hospitalized in internal medicine and geriatric wards. Construct validity was assessed using principal component analysis (PCA) method with Quartimax rotation. The goodness of fit of the measurement model, the BPI-SF was based on, in the sample of Polish elderly was tested using the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The reliability of the scale, in terms of its internal consistency, was estimated using the Cronbach alpha and Raykow’s Rho coefficients and by analysis of item-total correlation, applying the Kline criterion. The PCA revealed unidimensional structure in the BPI-SF the first factor of the solution was defined by all but two items of the scale. The reliability of the total score was 0.88 and remained at the same level after removing sleep position and average pain intensity from the subscales. Raykow’s Rho for the individual subscales was estimated at 0.78 for severity subscale, 0.66 for affective disturbances involving sleep and 0.82 excluding it, and 0.86 for activity-related difficulties. The Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form (BPI-SF), despite differences in psychometric properties with respect to the original results, may be applicable in monitoring the intensity of chronic non-cancer pain (pain associated with the musculoskeletal system and neuropathic pain) among the elderly as well as in the verification of functional status in daily clinical practice. Trial registration: Statutory research “Chronic pain in people over 65 years of age” K/ZDS/005733, conducted in 2015-2018.

The role of Hospital Ethics Committees (HECs) is to support patients and their relatives as well as medical staff in solving ethical issues that arise in relation to the implementation of medical care. In Poland there are no clearly formulated legal regulations concerning the establishment and functioning of hospital ethics committees. Hospitals applying for accreditation are obliged to present solutions defining the way of solving ethical issues in a given institution, some of them appoint HECs for this purpose. The aim of this study was to analyze information concerning the functioning of hospital ethics committees in Poland on the basis of publicly available data published on the websites of accredited hospitals. Very few accredited hospitals (56) make public information about functioning in their ethics consulting facilities through hospital ethics committees. In most cases, the information provided on the functioning of HECs is general, both in terms of the committees’ functioning, type of cases under consideration and the composition of personnel.

Introduction Cancer pain is the most prevalent symptom among patients diagnosed with oncological disease. Pain complaints can occur at any stage of the disease, significantly impacting patient functioning. An additional challenge that arises when trying to assess the severity of pain is the...