Last chance for aged-care providers to claim free PainChek licence

This fortnight is the last chance for aged-care facilities to participate in the government-subsidised rollout of PainChek Universal, a complete point-of-care solution for best practice pain management. The rollout includes a free 12-month licence for all facilities who sign up by Monday, 31 May.

The PainChek app uses AI and smartphone technology to assess pain in those that can’t communicate. The offer is part of a government-subsidised initiative to promote innovation in aged care and support improved pain assessment and management for those living with dementia or other cognitive impairments.

To facilitate the national implementation of PainChek’s pain assessment tool in residential aged-care centres, the Australian Government has provided a grant for up to 100,000 PainChek annual licences for all Australian residential aged-care facilities.

“With PainChek, pain assessment is well on its way to becoming a new healthcare vital sign, and over the past two years we’ve seen the positive effect it’s having on the industry,” PainChek CEO and Managing Director Philip Daffas said. “Now, with only a few weeks left to sign up for a free 12-month PainChek licence, we’re urging those remaining facilities to claim their obligation-free funding entitlement and join the existing 993 facilities benefiting from PainChek.”

Facility implementation and feedback

An independent review of how PainChek assessments have helped to better identify and manage residents’ pain since 2019 found:

• More than 350,000 pain assessments have been conducted.
• 288 residential aged-care providers managing 993 aged-care facilities have been given access to PainChek.
• Almost 7000 staff have registered to use PainChek and 4400 staff have been trained to use the tool.
• More than 50,000 dementia licences for residents living with dementia and cognitive impairment have been activated.
   

“The independent review showed overwhelmingly positive feedback from users,” Daffas said. “One example is of an aged-care resident whose ongoing reports of chest pain were believed to be one of several challenging behaviours. After a PainChek assessment, pain was confirmed, which the staff were then able to effectively manage, resulting in significant reductions in stress and agitated behaviours.”

How it works

PainChek Universal includes access to the PainChek app, numerical rating scale (NRS) and PainChek Analytics, an all-in-one complete point-of-care tool. The app’s assessment framework uses AI and facial-recognition technology to automatically detect micro-expressions that indicate pain, even if a resident cannot verbalise. The app is clinically proven to improve pain assessment and pain management for people with moderate to severe dementia in aged care and those who may not be able to communicate verbally. For those who can verbalise, the device includes the NRS, an established standard used to document self-reported pain levels.

For many people, cognitive state and the ability to reliably report pain will fluctuate day to day or even hour to hour. PainChek Universal includes both pain assessment scales in a complete point-of-care tool, which in turn allows carers to capture pain scores for all residents — regardless of their ability to communicate their pain.

The tool is integrated with all nine major Care Management System providers in Australia, removing duplication and streamlining clinical data. It involves two-way integration, which means PainChek receives information from the facility’s clinical system and then sends back pain assessments — making it a true point-of-care assessment tool and ultimately giving back clinical time to staff.

Aged-care staff and healthcare professionals can contact PainChek to register their interest for the free 12-month licence here before Monday, 31 May 2021. Interested facilities can visit www.painchek.com or phone 1800 098 809.