There's an App for That

Can chronic pain patients access better pain management with the help of an app? A study examined adherence, communication, and pain self-management through the use of a pain management app. Over 240 chronic pain patients participated in an exploratory study comparing two groups, either with or without an app. The app offered, among other things, pain tracking for patients and remote monitoring for providers. “The app allows us to capture even more information than we had previously, while doing so digitally and remotely,” stated Dr. Anuj Bhatia, Site Director, Anesthesia – Interventional Pain Service, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network. “The app also allowed us to study trends in intensity of pain and its impact on the patients' lives."

The app group reported lower anxiety and pain catastrophizing than those who did not use the app. Through advanced analytics, potential negative trends could be spotted weeks or months in advance. The study concluded that use of the app was associated with higher engagement overall on the part of the participant. It called for “Further research…to understand factors that impact continued engagement and clinical outcomes in patients with chronic pain.”

 

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Other Categories:

• interventional pain management

• multimodal pain management

• technology/robotics

• Telehealth/telemedicine