Person Centred Software is helping to drive a technological revolution in pain relief for care home residents.
Using the latest smartphone and AI technology, care home providers can now accurately identify and measure levels of pain among those with reduced communication skills. The aim is to ensure accurate pain relief is administered and reduce the use of unnecessary behavioural medication.
Jonathan Papworth, co-founder and director of Person Centred Software, explains: “For people who are unable to communicate their level of pain, such as those with dementia, the result can be that they display bad behaviour and get angry.
"Behavioural drugs are commonly used in residential care to address challenging behaviour and most medical professionals believe that they are acting in the best interest of the individual, staff and other residents, but without the ability to understand if a person is in pain, that individual may be wrongly diagnosed.
"In addition, the medications to manage behaviour are normally far more expensive than those used for pain relief. So, if pain medication can resolve the pain and it results in better behaviour, it will improve the individual’s quality of life and benefit everyone involved.”
To help resolve this issue, Person Centred Software has integrated PainChek, smartphone pain monitoring and assessment technology, within its Mobile Care Monitoring application.
Using the AI and facial recognition technology in PainChek, carers can identify the presence and quantify the severity of pain when pain isn’t obvious. The information feeds seamlessly into the intelligent mobile application to deliver a joined-up solution to help care providers to monitor pain at the point of care in people who are non-verbal.
