These metrics are:
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Volume: The number of pain assessments completed per active care recipient per month.
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Post Movement: The percentage of pain assessments conducted after a care recipient has completed activities of daily living or repositioning.
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Auto Analysis: The percentage of pain assessments conducted using the PainChek automatic facial analysis technology.
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Zero Pain Indicators (ZPI): The percentage of PainChek assessments that identified no pain indicators, or a ‘0’ score.
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Follow-up Assessment: The percentage of successful reassessments after a care recipient was initially assessed with a mild, moderate, or severe pain rating
Each metric is scored out of 5, for a maximum of 25 points. This is then converted into a percentage score (out of 100) to give you a clear and measurable summary of your performance over the last calendar month.
Organisational and site leadership can use these Scores to benchmark the use of PainChek across their sites, with the HealthChek reporting clearly highlighting the high’s and low’s of the past month’s pain management outcomes.
Your HealthChek Score should be used as a sense check for how well you are managing and supporting the pain journey of those in your care.
In additional, you will also be able to reference your organisation’s Target Score. This Target Score is customisable for your organisation, being set to reflect internal goals and standards, and monitor performance over time. To change your organisation’s Target Score, contact your PainChek Account Manager or PainChek support, and they can facilitate this request for you.
Compare your monthly HealthChek Score to your organisation’s Target Score for a quick reference as to how you are performing, and to set the tone of internal discussions with care staff. Then, use the metric scores to better understand areas for improvement over the next calendar month.
The ‘thresholds’ that mark the boundaries between scores were developed by the PainChek team, alongside a select group of PainChek customers with whom which significant testing was deployed.
How the HealthChek metrics are scored:
Note
While most metric scores increase with the prevalence of that metric in the care setting, the Zero Pain Indicators metric is inverted - a higher rate of ZPI corresponds to a lower score for that metric.
In some cases, your HealthChek might show one of these metrics scoring as ‘N/A'. This means that during this month, there were insufficient PainChek assessments recorded for this metric to be a useful data point. Generally, we define the term 'insufficient data’ as being less than 5 PainChek assessments during the month.
During development, the scores for each HealthChek metric were designed to align both with what we see across the global cohort of PainChek customers (using standard deviation distribution).
Terminology to help you interpret the 5 key HealthCheck metrics:
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Volume: By conducting PainChek and NRS assessments using the PainChek tool, this allows care staff to record baseline pain assessments and determine frequency of assessments for care recipients to ensure pain is managed effectively where identified.
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Post Movement: Pain occurs more often during or following movement. By conducting pain assessments post-movement, we can determine a more accurate pain experience for the care recipient. Care staff should consider the post-movement process where possible.
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Zero Pain Indicators (ZPI): It is important for care staff to consider all 42 indicators of pain throughout a PainChek assessment. PainChek is a point of care assessment tool. Users are expected to record their clinical observations and also consider clinical handover, as well as past medical history of the care recipient being assessed. Typically, a care recipient who cannot reliably verbalise their pain would be experiencing at least 1 of the 42 indicators at any given time. These outcomes should be monitored to help identify areas requiring support for care staff in using the PainChek assessment tool.
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Auto Analysis: There are 9 different pain indicators in the face that are displayed through micro-expressions not always visible to the naked eye. The PainChek Auto Analysis feature is three times more likely to identify if micro-expressions are indicative of pain are present on the recipient’s face.
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Follow-up Rate: When PainChek is used and pain is identified, a follow up assessment should be conducted. Standard pain management processes should be followed within the organisation to manage that person’s pain effectively after identification. To evaluate the effectiveness of any pain management intervention (e.g. pharmacological or non-pharmacological), a follow up assessment must be conducted at a time interval in line with organisational policy.
The HealthChek benchmark is only beneficial to your care setting if its insights guide purposeful action to improve pain management practices using the PainChek tool.
Use the new monthly management report and its HealthChek to:
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Guide pain management discussions at the site, regional or organisational level.
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Compare pain management performance across sites within the organisation.
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Support PainChek usage and quality improvement initiatives.
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Track pain management trends over time.
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Inform the care setting’s training and support needs.
Note
Disclaimer: It is important that care staff are aware that Targets and Metrics are based on PainChek data only, and may not reflect the pain management policies of your organisation or local regulatory body. HealthChek should be treated as a guide only. Your organisation’s clinical policies and regulatory frameworks should remain the ultimate point of reference for clinical governance.
With the renewed focus of the monthly management report, consider updating the distribution lists for both the Organisational Management Report and Site Management Reports for each facility within your organisation.
See the Managing Reports for instructions on how to do this, or contact your PainChek Account Manager.
Have any further questions about HealthChek or the management report? We have put together a Management Report FAQ which answers some of the questions you might have regarding PainChek report.
Otherwise, feel free to contact PainChek Support if you need any assistance.
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Booker, S. Q., Herr, K. A., & Horgas, A. L. (2021). A paradigm shift for movement-based pain assessment in older adults: Practice, policy and regulatory drivers. Pain Management Nursing, 22(1), 21-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmn.2020.08.003
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Australian Pain Society recommendations (modified) - Appendix 5 of the Pain in Residential Aged Care: Management Strategies 2nd Edition.
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Hadjistavropoulos, T., Fitzgerald, T. D., & Marchildon, G. P. (2010). Practice guidelines for assessing pain in older persons with dementia residing in long-term care facilities. Physiotherapy Canada, 62(2), 104-113. https://utppublishing.com/doi/10.3138/physio.62.2.104