Pain in the Aged Care Sector detected with innovative App

An innovative technology that uses facial recognition technology to assess and score pain levels in real time has been used to assess pain for aged care residents during the pandemic, leading the Federal Government to extend its funding period.

PainChek® is a clinically validated mobile app that uses artificial intelligence to assess micro-expressions in a person’s face and identify the presence and severity of pain in minutes and from up to a three-meter distance.

The Federal Government-funded national trial of PainChek in Australian residential aged care commenced just as the pandemic took hold, helping aged care staff detect and manage pain in residents with conditions such as dementia, who find it difficult to communicate.

To date more than 180,000 PainChek assessments have been conducted on more than 16,000 residents living with dementia, who often cannot communicate their pain.

CEO of Painaustralia, Carol Bennett said pain was a common experience for many Australians – and can be even more prevalent among our older population.

“Pain among older people can go undetected, which leads to under-treatment or poor management,” Ms Bennett said.

“It is estimated that up to 80 per cent of aged care residents have chronic pain, while 53 per cent of people in residential aged care have a diagnosis of dementia. As a result, pain is often undetected or mistreated in many aged care residents.

“On World Alzheimer's Day it is important to note that pain is widespread in aged care settings and particularly among older people who suffer from dementia. However, technology is closing the gap on undetected pain with innovative apps such as PainChek.”

“The timely implementation of new technologies in aged care is an important step towards improving pain management and the quality of life for Australia’s most vulnerable older people and their families.”

“The Royal Commission into Aged Care has highlighted the much-needed changes in the sector, and with the added threat of COVID-19, it is a critical time to implement improvements and real action.”

PainChek Ltd CEO Philip Daffas said detecting pain in people with dementia can be particularly difficult because they may not be able to verbalise their pain or they are labelled as difficult or aggressive before it is discovered that they are in some form of physical pain.