PainChek
At a glance
- Name
- PainChek
- Category
- Industry suppliers
- Address
- Canterbury
- Regions
- Canterbury, Northland, Waitemata, Auckland, Counties Manukau, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Lakes, Tairawhiti, Taranaki, Whanganui, Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa, MidCentral, Capital & Coast, Hutt Valley, Nelson Marlborough, West Coast, South Canterbury, Southern (Otago), Southern (Southland), Test ADHB, Test DHB
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- View Phone Number
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- Visit Website
Personnel
- Head of Business Development
- David Allsopp
Media
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 Oct 27th webinar
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Free Webinar: Pain & Dementia - Common Challenges
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| World’s first clinically validated pain assessment app PainChek® launches in New Zealand
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PainChek® enables best-practice pain management for New Zealanders in aged care Innovative technology that utilises AI and a modern assessment framework to assess and score pain levels in real-time has made its way to New Zealand shores — empowering time-poor carers to identify pain in care centre residents living with dementia or cognitive impairment. Almost 70,000 Kiwis are living with dementia, and this number is expected to reach 170,000 by 2050. Approximately a third (30.4%) are estimated to be living in residential aged care. Amongst these individuals, pain often goes undetected and mistreated as they may not be able to communicate their pain, or they are labelled as difficult or aggressive before it is discovered that they are in some form of physical pain. PainChek® is the world’s first clinically validated mobile app that uses artificial intelligence to analyse micro-expressions in a person’s face and, combined with a set of simple observations, identify the presence and severity of pain in real-time, even when it is not obvious. The app is the technological evolution of manual pain assessment tools such as the widely used Abbey Pain Scale, which has been used to assess pain in people living with dementia for almost 20 years. “With PainChek®, pain assessment is well on its way to becoming a new healthcare vital sign. We have already seen the positive effect it’s having around the world,” said Philip Daffas, CEO of PainChek®.”An independent evaluation has found that accurate pain assessments have resulted in a reduction in psychotropic medication by identifying pain as a cause of challenging behaviour, a renewed focus on pain assessment within facilities, and non-medication interventions being initiated to manage pain. We are thrilled to bring the benefits of PainChek® to carers and aged care residents in New Zealand.” In addition to assessing pain in those who cannot reliably self-report, PainChek® also helps carers document the pain scores of those who can self-report using the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS). Carers can also seamlessly switch between PainChek® and NRS assessments for residents whose ability to communicate fluctuates between the two states, and access historical pain assessment data at the individual, care centre, and provider level through PainChek Analytics®. The result is a complete point of care solution that empowers carers to accurately and rapidly detect pain, and monitor the effectiveness of interventions over time. In addition to being available as an app on the App Store and Google Play, PainChek® is fully integrated with VCare, one of New Zealand’s leading aged care software providers. This two-way integration allows PainChek® results to be directly uploaded into the platform in real-time to eliminate duplication of effort and manual handling of data, improve pain assessment data accuracy, and help carers track the outcomes of treatment and medication over time. Since launching in 2017, PainChek® has already become the most commonly used software tool in Australian Residential Aged Care, with more than 60 per cent of the industry currently using or in the process of implementing PainChek®. The tool is also in use across the United Kingdom, Europe, Canada and Singapore. Over 500,000 assessments have been completed to date. PainChek® is now available to all care centres and rest homes in New Zealand. Interested facilities can visit www.painchek.com/nz or call 0800-425-513 to enquire about PainChek®. |
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Innovative technology that utilises AI and a modern assessment framework to assess and score pain levels in real-time has made its way to New Zealand shores — empowering time-poor carers to identify pain in care centre residents living with dementia or cognitive impairment.
Almost 70,000 Kiwis are living with dementia, and this number is expected to reach 170,000 by 2050. Approximately a third (30.4%) are estimated to be living in residential aged care. Amongst these individuals, pain often goes undetected and mistreated as they may not be able to communicate their pain, or they are labelled as difficult or aggressive before it is discovered that they are in some form of physical pain.
PainChek® is the world’s first clinically validated mobile app that uses artificial intelligence to analyse micro-expressions in a person’s face and, combined with a set of simple observations, identify the presence and severity of pain in real-time, even when it is not obvious. The app is the technological evolution of manual pain assessment tools such as the widely used Abbey Pain Scale, which has been used to assess pain in people living with dementia for almost 20 years.
“With PainChek®, pain assessment is well on its way to becoming a new healthcare vital sign. We have already seen the positive effect it’s having around the world,” said Philip Daffas, CEO of PainChek®.”An independent evaluation has found that accurate pain assessments have resulted in a reduction in psychotropic medication by identifying pain as a cause of challenging behaviour, a renewed focus on pain assessment within facilities, and non-medication interventions being initiated to manage pain. We are thrilled to bring the benefits of PainChek® to carers and aged care residents in New Zealand.”
In addition to assessing pain in those who cannot reliably self-report, PainChek® also helps carers document the pain scores of those who can self-report using the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS). Carers can also seamlessly switch between PainChek® and NRS assessments for residents whose ability to communicate fluctuates between the two states, and access historical pain assessment data at the individual, care centre, and provider level through PainChek Analytics®.
The result is a complete point of care solution that empowers carers to accurately and rapidly detect pain, and monitor the effectiveness of interventions over time.
In addition to being available as an app on the App Store and Google Play, PainChek® is fully integrated with VCare, one of New Zealand’s leading aged care software providers. This two-way integration allows PainChek® results to be directly uploaded into the platform in real-time to eliminate duplication of effort and manual handling of data, improve pain assessment data accuracy, and help carers track the outcomes of treatment and medication over time.
Since launching in 2017, PainChek® has already become the most commonly used software tool in Australian Residential Aged Care, with more than 60 per cent of the industry currently using or in the process of implementing PainChek®. The tool is also in use across the United Kingdom, Europe, Canada and Singapore. Over 500,000 assessments have been completed to date.
PainChek® is now available to all care centres and rest homes in New Zealand. Interested facilities can visit www.painchek.com/nz or call 0800-425-513 to enquire about PainChek®.
Testimonials
| “Since we introduced PainChek® as a standard pain assessment tool for cognitively impaired residents in our facility, we have had a 72% increase in the number of pain assessments completed. This has translated into more pain interventions applied, including PRN medications and therapy-based solutions” — Barossa Village (AU) Matt Kowald, General Manager Residential Care Services "Having the evidence to support a pain diagnosis has often proved difficult when caring for people with dementia. Pain and behaviour management often go hand in hand and PainChek® has provided us with a simple but effective tool to diagnose that a person has pain and effectively manage that pain. As a result, we now have a number of documented cases of reduced use of behaviour medications (such as antipsychotics) and an improvement in the quality of life for the residents. We see the PainChek® application as a valuable addition to our pain management system. The training and support from the staff at PainChek® has been first class and the registered nurses at Regents Garden have embraced this tool and have nothing but praise for the results that we are finding.” — Regents Garden (AU), Yvonne Ayre, General Manager “The tool has been used to assess care recipients and assist with the review and referral of undiagnosed pain to medical officers. Changes have been made to the care recipient’s pain management with positive results. Clinical staff interviewed reported a decrease in challenging behaviour for a care recipient assessed and reviewed. Management reported they have purchased a license to use the tool and will roll out the use of the tool at other homes.” Regents Garden (AU), Yvonne Ayre, General Manager "Our staff have seen the benefits of the PainChek® assessments. They have experienced the improved residents’ behaviour (such as agitation and resistance to care), which gives them genuine confidence now in identifying and treating pain effectively – this in turn has allowed them to reassure the residents’ families that the appropriate medication and alternative treatments to medication are being provided once pain is diagnosed. PainChek® enables easy record-keeping which can be integrated with existing software record systems. It provides accountable and clear record-keeping and evidence availability for staff, GPs and for auditing purposes. From a funding perspective, PainChek® offers an evidence-based process that allows Operators to meet the requirements of the current Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) Model across several domains.” — Allambie Heights Village (AU), Ciarán Foley, Chief Executive Officer “PainChek® is utilised in approximately half of our residents, due to the presence of dementia and clear communication problems. PainChek® continues to provide evidence to GPs about the underlying pain that triggers behaviours in those residents, which resulted in the reduction of psychotropic medications. The PainChek® assessment also assisted in demonstrating how the correct medication (such as analgesic) used results in improved residents’ comfort.” — Allambie Heights Village (AU), Jim Murray, Facility Manager "The most common feedback from staff is the ease of use of PainChek®. Being an application, which is used on a portable device, has enabled great buy-in from staff, which has certainly assisted us during the rollout across our residences. One of our strategic goals is ‘to provide exceptional quality of life’. To fulfil this goal, we need the best tools that we can provide to our staff to assist them in assessing and evaluating pain interventions, be that pharmacological or non-pharmacological. PainChek® is the new standard of pain assessment that allow us to perform a comprehensive evaluation for residents with cognitive impairment when they experience changes in behaviour. Such assessment also allows VMCH to meet Standard 3 of the Aged Care Standards, as it is best practice, allows care to be tailored to the individual and optimises residents’ health and wellbeing." — Villa Maria Catholic Homes (VMCH) (AU) Jeffrey Brooks Clinical Manager "We had an elderly man who was exhibiting escalating behaviours. He was non-verbal, had a diagnosis of dementia and was also receiving palliative care services. Through thorough PainChek® assessments staff were able to minimise his pain symptoms, and the behaviours settled. Having a TGA cleared-medical device allows staff to monitor residents across the whole of their medical journey, including in the palliative approach. Using the artificial intelligence of the PainChek® app, coupled with assessments of movement, voice, activity and clinical signs all add up to a better assessment of resident’s pain. Having an objective, valid and reliable assessment of pain for residents who are unable to express their pain is incredibly valuable.”"— Villa Maria Catholic Homes (VMCH) (AU), Jeffrey Brooks, Clinical Manager “Having an open API allows the seamless integration of PainChek® into VMCH systems. This integration allows for collected data to be held in our single source of truth and allows in-depth analysis of an individual resident’s results. This then provides an opportunity for staff to establish trends and effectiveness of interventions over time." — Villa Maria Catholic Homes (VMCH) (AU), Jeffrey Brooks Clinical Manager "Prior to using PainChek® we used traditional paperbased pain assessments. The outcomes of these assessments were both subjective and time consuming, with differing results depending on who was completing them. It was also a challenge to differentiate between pain, pain related behavioural issues and just behavioural issues. PainChek® accurately assesses pain in those living with dementia at the point of care, replacing the need for paperwork. The assessment takes no more than 2-3 minutes to complete, with all data automatically uploaded to the PainChek Web App Portal. Carers, GPs and other medical staff can then access the data online. St Mary’s Mount has experienced a marked improvement in the accuracy and consistency of pain assessment outcomes since introducing PainChek®. In addition, we have seen a huge time saving from administration."" St Mary’s Mount Care Home (UK) “We have one resident who often displayed distressed behaviour when touched, which historically we would have associated with pain. PainChek, helps to more accurately identify and distinguish the cause of these reactions. The data generated can then be discussed with the GP to find the most appropriate way to care for this individual”. Heathfield Residential Home (UK) Paul Rowley Clinical Manager “Being able to assess pain using AI for our residents with dementia is amazing!”— Heathfield Residential Home (UK) Marjorie Home Manager “Using AI to understand the difference between pain related symptoms and challenging behaviour in residents living with dementia” — Heathfield Residential Home (UK) Paul Rowley Clinical Manager “Heathfield has been working with Lancaster University in search of innovative methods of supporting residents’ moods and behaviours, which includes immersive mood screens. The recent addition of PainChek has provided a genuine enhancement of care on offer at Heathfield.” — Heathfield Residential Home (UK) — Paul Rowley Clinical Manager “We have a strong history of engaging technology to assist our residents with dementia. It is our hope that PainChek® will more efficiently identify pain in non-verbal residents, allowing us to appropriately manage pain for their comfort.” — Swancare Graham Francis “This technology allows consultants who have been called to assist with someone where behaviour impacts on their care to assess and identify if that person is in pain.” — HammondCare, Associate Professor Colm Cunningham, Director of the Dementia Centre “Since the introduction of PainChek, residents have suffered less pain and enjoy more of each day. It’s so beneficial and efficient both time and financial wise. It has changed the treatment plans of some residents.” — Anthem Care Jill Allsopp, Systems Manager “I see PainChek as an evolutionary development of my past work, incorporating new technologies including smart devices and artificial intelligence that further improves the pain assessment process. There are many people who still do not have their pain assessed effectively. Our common goal is to ensure they do not suffer unnecessary pain.” — Dr Jennifer Abbey, Founder of the Abbey Pain Scale “The Abbey Pain Scale has been the standard tool used to overcome that problem for nearly 20 years in Australia and elsewhere. PainChek introduces an innovative technology that does far more than the Abbey Scale could do, whilst remaining similar enough to allow staff to adapt to the new tool without difficulty."— Dr Jennifer Abbey, Founder of the Abbey Pain Scale |
| Updated: 29 Sep 2021 |