The occurrence of pain.

Anesthesia practitioners provide pain relief during surgery and in the immediate postoperative period. As a result of this intervention, anesthesia practitioners and surgeons share concern for and interest in relieving the patient's painful experiences. When pain is minimized, the patient is willing to ambulate and institute self-care with gentle encouragement. As patients are increasingly able to care for themselves, recovery is accelerated both in the hospital and at home. However, an entire population group is underdiagnosed and undertreated for pain-they are the elderly, especially those who receive institutional care. One of the major difficulties with this group of individuals is the availability of an accurate and dependable evaluation tool to ascertain the presence and acuity of the pain present.