Care standards are evolving globally

Quality of care has always been a focus for carers, nurses, clinicians, and industry decision-makers, but it has never been more of a critical consideration than it is today.

The introduction of new national legislation and compliance standards, together with an ageing population and growing workforce demands, is driving significant change across the aged care, home care, hospital, and disability industries.

During this time, access to the right tools is crucial. PainChek®’s digital pain assessment app facilitates best-practice processes, documentation, and reporting, supporting compliance with national care standards. Find out how.

Australia

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety was established in 2018 to inquire into the quality and safety of aged care in Australia. As a result, widespread legislative changes have been introduced to improve oversight and quality of care standards across the industry.

Since July 2021, all government-subsidised aged care homes have been required to collect data on five quality indicators:

• Pressure injuries.
• Physical restraint.
• Unplanned weight loss.
• Falls and major injury.
• Medication management.

These quality indicators complement the Aged Care Quality Standards that all government-subsidised aged care facilities need to meet.

A new guideline was also recently released to help inform the industry about the appropriate use of psychotropic treatment in response to findings that psychotropic medicines are being overprescribed and overused in older people and people with disability.

Additionally, from 1 October 2022, a new AN-ACC care funding model will include minimum requirements for staff time with residents, mandatory quality reporting, and decreased funding for some treatments, putting the burden on care providers to reallocate resources while optimising quality of care.

Despite the heightened focus on data collection to inform accurate and appropriate treatment, there remains a widespread lack of information sharing between systems, carers, clinicians, patients or residents, and their families.

How PainChek® supports compliance and improved care standards

PainChek®’s digital pain assessment app facilitates best-practice processes, documentation, and reporting, taking the pressure off carers, clinicians, and industry decision-makers when it comes to complying with national care standards.

The app combines PainChek®’s AI pain assessment tool, which intelligently automates the multidimensional pain assessment process, with the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS). This hybrid functionality allows objective, consistent pain assessment at the point of care for those who can self-report, those who cannot, and those whose ability fluctuates. Learn more here.

What are the key benefits?

• Centralised data: All pain assessment data is stored securely and centrally in PainChek®’s detailed reporting suite, PainChek® Analytics.
• Interoperability: PainChek® is fully interoperable with leading care management systems, enabling seamless and secure data sharing.
• Reduced risk: No duplication of effort or the need for paper-handling reduces the risk of human error and inaccuracies.
• Improved quality of care: PainChek® has been shown to instigate a reduction in the inappropriate use of psychotropic medication.
• Accessibility: A fast and objective tool, PainChek® empowers staff to accurately and consistently monitor pain, saving time and costs.
• Digital transformation: PainChek® helps facilities digitise their process and become technology leaders.
• Ongoing support: PainChek®’s expert team is on hand to support with day-to-day and strategic decisions relating to pain assessment.
• Reputability: PainChek® has government backing and a strong, credible reputation with clients and the industry.

I have a passion for continuous improvement in pain assessment and see the PainChek® pain assessment tool as an evolutionary development of my past work, incorporating new technologies including smart devices and artificial intelligence that further improve the pain assessment process. In particular the automated facial recognition part of the tool is impressive, and this in my view makes the pain assessment task simpler.”

– Dr Jennifer Abbey, founder of the Abbey Pain Scale