SBIR-STTR Award

In this Phase I project, Nursing Consult, LTD will refine and test PAINReport, an alpha version, interactive software program for pain assessment. PAINReport is designed to help patients describe and document their pain. Nurses and physicians need this information in order to prescribe individualized pain management strategies Collecting this information requires considerable professional skill and interview time. Providers and health care organizations desire time-efficient pain assessment tools. The goals of this Phase I project are to test and refine PAINReport (Patient Assessment Interactive Narrative for Pain Report), a computerized pain assessment tool for patients to self report and document the location, intensity, quality and pattern of their pain using touch-screen technology. In this phase I project, we will complete the following tasks: 1) describe PAINReport f'easibility in 35 cancer patients attending support groups; 2) conduct 6 to 8 focus groups on PAINReport receptivity with a total of 35 cancer patients and 30 health professionals; and 3) refine the existing alpha version of PAINReport using data from tasks 1 and 2 to build the beta version on CD ROM. Phase II finding will be sought to test the beta version before we begin final production of the PAINReport product on CD ROM and marketing to health card providers, agencies and organizations. Phase II funding will be sought to test the beta version, for final production of the PAINReport product on CD ROM. PAINReport has potential to overcome the substantial barrier of inadequate pain assessment and, when adopted in health care, to improve pain management. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: PAINReport ultimately could be useful to any agency providing care to people with pain. Potential markets include primary care offices, cancer centers, outpatient clinics, hospitals, HMOs, home care agencies, long- term care settings medical oncology offices, radiation oncology facilities, health care consumers, & nursing/medical education programs.

In this Phase II project, we will assess the implementation issues and outcomes that follow an agency's adoption of PAINReport It. PAlNReportIt is an interactive software program that enables patients to self report and simultaneously document their pain using a personal computer with a touch screen monitor. Patient data are stored in an Access database. The program is an extension of the well-known McGill Pain Questionnaire, the gold standard in pain surveys. After completion of the PAINReportIt program, a summary report of the patient's pain is available to patients and to clinicians. The Phase I project utilized focus groups to describe feasibility and patient and provider receptivity regarding PAINReportIt. Phase II will focus on the sequela which occur when an agency adopts PAINReportIt as part of its usual care. The aims of the study are 1) To identify organizational outcomes (implementation issues, information system interface, staff training) related to the adoption of PAINReportIt and 2) To compare the effects of giving or not giving clinicians their patients' PAINReportIt summary on clinician behavior (pain documentation in the medical record and appropriateness of analgesic prescriptions) and on patient outcomes (satisfaction with pain level, pain intensity levels, and pain quality scores). PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: PAINReportIt can be useful to any agency providing care to people with pain. Potential markets include primary care offices, cancer centers, outpatient clinics; hospitals, HMOs, home care agencies, long-term care settings, medical oncology offices, radiation oncology facilities, health care consumers, and nursing/medical education programs.