Digital health company PainChek has executed a licence agreement with Churches of Christ in Queensland (CCQ), enabling the aged care provider to deploy the pain assessment app across 1,000 residential aged care beds.
Under the partnership, the PainChek app will be accessible to the company’s nursing and care staff to assess residents’ clinical pain levels.
The licence agreement follows a successful PainChek trial at CCQ involving several residents living with dementia.
PainChek uses a smartphone camera to record a short video of the patient’s face and analyses the images using facial recognition analytics. It automatically recognises facial muscle movements that indicate pain and takes note of them.
After input from the caregiver including how the patient is moving and vocalising pain, PainChek calculates an overall pain score and stores the result, allowing the caregiver to monitor the effect of medication and treatment over time.
CCQ Executive Director of Services Bryan Mason says the PainChek app has helped carers in trials identify the presence and severity of residents’ pain when their pain has not been obvious.
“Rolling out the PainChek technology will mean we can better assess pain for our residents, giving them access to appropriate treatment more quickly,” he said.
