University of Alberta scientists are developing an app to help healthcare professionals assess and manage pain in patients with dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases.

“The problem with understanding pain in patients with dementia is that the expressions of pain in these people are often mistaken for psychiatric problems,” said Eleni Strulia, who co-leads the project.. “So we asked how we can use technology to better understand the pain of people with dementia.?

The app will digitize a pen-and-paper checklist that past research has shown helps healthcare professionals, such as nurses, assess pain in dementia patients..

“Our job is to develop an application for nurses, as well as an internal storage that securely stores and manages this data,” Strulia explained.. "

The study compared a digital app on a tablet with a traditional paper-and-pen appraisal.. They found that nurses preferred to use the app with patients and even reported that it helped them feel less stressed and exhausted..

Researchers are currently working to create an application that can be accepted more widely..

Strulia said the app will allow healthcare professionals to see more quickly if pain treatments are working for individual patients..

On a larger scale, widespread use of the tool could help improve the quality and effectiveness of care for dementia patients, she added..

“When we have such data, we can build models to understand the impact of different interventions,” Strulia said.. “This is something that can change policy and care in the long term – evidence-based policy that is changing the state of our medicine.”.

Along with Stroulia, the project is led by Thomas Hadjistavropoulos of the University of Regina as part of AGE-WELL, a national network dedicated to helping older Canadians maintain their independence, health and quality of life through affordable technology..

The study "

medical-heal. en.