When conducting a PainChek® Assessment, use the following additional functionality and tips to improve the Assessment process. Unless specifically noted, they are applicable to all 6 of the Assessment Domains.
It is important to note that PainChek® is an observational pain assessment tool intended to assist trained healthcare professionals in assessing pain in non-verbal patients. As such, PainChek® results should be interpreted by qualified healthcare professionals within the context of their broader clinical knowledge and examination of the Resident.
In addition, PainChek® users should be aware that although PainChek® clinical study data support the accuracy of the device for identifying No Pain, Mild Pain, and Moderate Pain, a low number of residents were identified as suffering from Severe Pain. For this reason, there is uncertainty in the ability of the device to assess Severe Pain, given the small sample size.
Furthermore, when interpreting pain assessment results, users should be aware that the lower bounds of the 95% confidence intervals (CI) for performance across all pain severity categories, particularly Moderate and Severe Pain, indicate increased uncertainty. This uncertainty may be due to the small number of assessments in these categories and the limited test-retest reliability of the clinical comparator used (the Abbey Pain Scale). These factors may have contributed to the observed lower confidence bounds.
It is also important to note that PainChek® clinical data were evaluated to determine whether facial expressions associated with pain are consistent across racial groups. Although the study population consisted of a less diverse population than that of the United States, the study findings and evidence from published research support the conclusion that core facial expressions of pain are consistent across racial and ethnic groups.
PainChek® is not a substitute for the clinical judgment or assessment by a qualified healthcare professional, who may decide that PainChek® is not appropriate for some Residents.
At the top right of the Domain screens, you will see a representation of your progress through the 6 Domains (starting with The Face Domain on the left and ending with The Body Domain on the right). The current Domain has a dot underneath its icon. A grey icon means you are yet to view that Domain, a green icon indicates the Domain has been completed, whilst an orange icon indicates an incomplete Domain.
As you can see in the screenshot above, the first 2 Domains have been completed while the third (The Movement) is in progress.
Next to each Feature, you will see a circular icon. You can tap on this to find out more information about a Feature and when the Feature should be assessed. To hide the information bubble, tap anywhere on the screen:
The Face Domain information bubbles have animations to help understand the Features that are being identified.
To select a Feature, tap on the toggle next to the appropriate Feature. You do not need to slide the toggle, just tap on it to select it or unselect it:
You can select as many Features as is appropriate for each Domain.
If a Resident does not show any of the Features listed for the Domain, select the Resident does not exhibit any of the above features option to explicitly indicate this.
A Domain is not considered complete until you have select at least one Feature, or have selected the Resident does not exhibit any of the above features option.
Under the list of Features, you will see an Additional Remarks field that allows you to enter an optional comment about that Domain.
Tap on the Additional Remarks field to enter a comment:
In this example, the User has entered the text "Joe slept longer than usual the last few nights":
When assessing The Voice Domain, you also have the option to store an audio recording of the Resident to use as reference. Start the recording by tapping the REC button (note that you may need to scroll down to see this option). Once you have captured enough audio, tap the STOP REC button to finish the recording.
Note
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If this is the first time you are using the PainChek® App on this device, you will be asked to give the PainChek® App access to the microphone on your device.
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Once audio is captured, you have the option to playback the audio (tap the PLAY button), to re-record the voice (tap the REC button) or to delete the recording (tap the DELETE button).
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When Reviewing a PainChek® Assessment, you have the option to playback the audio (tap the PLAY button), but you can't re-record or delete the recording.
When creating a new or reviewing an existing PainChek® Assessment, you can navigate from one Domain to the next by swiping.
Swipe left (from the right side of the screen to the left) to access the next Domain (unless you are on the last Domain, The Body).
Swipe right (from the left side of the screen to the right) to access the previous Domain (unless you are on the first Domain, The Face).
At the bottom of each Domain form, you can also see the available swipe options (you may need to scroll down to see these):