Willows signs an agreement with PainChek
We are happy to announce that PainChek has signed an agreement with the Willows Private Nursing Home. Under this partnership, the PainChek digital health solution will be accessible to our nursing and care staff to assess and monitor our residents’ clinical pain levels.
The PainChek app will help identify the presence and severity of residents’ pain when their pain isn’t obvious. Rolling out the PainChek technology will mean we can better assess pain for our residents giving them access to appropriate treatment more quickly.
PainChek is fast becoming the new standard for pain assessment within Australian Aged Care. Today, close to 4,000 residents across 62 aged care sites have licensed access to the PainChek technology. PainChek are also current partners with the Society of Dementia and Alzheimer’s.
“Our purpose is to give a voice to people who cannot verbalise their pain.”
PainChek is the world’s first pain assessment tool that has regulatory clearance in Australia and Europe. Using AI and facial recognition technology, PainChek provides carers across multiple clinical areas with three important new clinical benefits:
- The ability to identify the presence of pain, when pain isn’t obvious
- To quantify the severity level of pain, when pain is obvious, and;
- To monitor the impact of treatment to optimise overall care
In Australia, there are 400,000 people living with dementia of which 115,000 are within residential aged care. At a global level, there are 50 million people living with dementia.
– Pain is common:
- Up to 80% of people in aged care experience chronic pain
- But pain often goes undetected and untreated
- Pain is difficult to assess
- Tools to assess pain are often not used or use subjective rating scales
Accurately identifying pain can:
- Improve quality of life
- Reduce rates and severity of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia
- Reduce rates of incorrectly prescribed antipsychotics
- Improve staff retention
PainChek® helping the vulnerable in aged care by safely assessing pain during the COVID-19 pandemic:
Regular pain assessments are of even greater importance for the vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic as chronic pain may be associated with an impaired immune system. In the community, more than 50% of those living with dementia experience pain daily.
PainChek accurately assesses pain for these vulnerable people living with dementia and cognitive impairment and who cannot verbalise or self-report pain accurately.
PainChek also allows carers to safely and rapidly conduct a pain assessment that complies with the government’s social distancing requirements, minimising risks for both carers and residents. To learn more go to: painchek.com
