The Pre-Assessment form, that is displayed when starting a PainChek assessment, requires that you indicate if the assessment is being performed "At Rest" and "Post Movement":
You should choose the options as follows:
- "At Rest" - Use when the person under assessment is resting and is sitting comfortably in a chair or lying down on a bed
- "Post Movement" - Use immediately after the person is being moved. Movement includes the activities of daily living or being transferred or repositioned.
PainChek does not default a choice for you-you must select "At Rest" or "Post Movement" before you can proceed with the assessment.
Why is it Important to Correctly Set "At Rest" and "Post Movement" in the Pre-Assessment Form
According to the Australian Pain Society, pain for aged care residents should be assessed both at rest and post movement.
Rest-based assessments mimic comfort status and establish baseline scores, providing a good clinical picture on a resident’s pain when compared with movement.
Movement-based assessments are the ideal clinical assessments because they provoke clinical pain and are more likely to reveal pain behaviours, including those of subtle nature (e.g. when a resident is resistant to eat or have a shower). Thus, such assessments are more reflective of the resident’s status and more representative of the actual pain experience because they are likely to determine the impact of pain on resident’s physical impairment and functional capacity (e.g. mobility and walking), and activities of daily living (e.g. sleeping, toileting). Further, given how common the age-related medical (pain) conditions (such as arthritis) in residents of aged care facilities, it is less likely to score zero across all pain domains of a pain scale, when conducting movement-based assessments.