Introduction
Patients with chronic pain require consistent support from healthcare providers due to the challenges with which the target population has to deal on a regular basis. Monitoring changes in patients’ well-being is imperative since it will allow determining the instances in which the pain that they experience subsides, as well as the scenarios that lead to the aggravation of the specified population’s condition (Pope & Deer, 2017). However, the factors that may cause the deterioration of the health of patients with chronic pain are extraordinarily numerous and rather hard to identify unless a careful and detailed analysis of the environment in which a patient lives is provided. The specified task is especially difficult to implement when addressing the needs of outpatients due to the lack of nurses’ control over their actions. Therefore, the creation of the app that could help patients with chronic pain to document their daily experiences and the factors that affect them will help single out the ones that may contribute to a change in patients’ condition.
Explanation of the Proposed APP: Pain and Pain Factors Diary
The suggested application will help monitor the changes in the patient’s pain levels by offering a simple test. The specified assessment will be based on a numeric self-rating scale will be utilized as the foundation for the identification of changes in a patient’s health. The app will help identify the changes in the patient’s well-being based on the provided data.
Furthermore, the factors to which the patient is exposed at the time of experiencing a change in pain levels will also be documented with the help of the app. By combining a pain rating system with a small diary, one will be able to determine the causes of changes in a patient’s well-being. Therefore, the app can be used to identify the elements of a patient’s environment that have a negative effect on their pain levels. Furthermore, the diary will help patients understand their problems better and, thus, can be used as a patient education tool.
Justification for Need of This Type of APP: Locating Triggers
Chronic patients are extremely vulnerable to any external stimuli that may prompt another pain attack (Deer, Leong, Buvanendran, Kim, & Panchal, 2015). Therefore, creating the environment in which their pain can be alleviated or reduced is essential. However, seeing how widely varied these factors are, it is essential to adopt a patient-specific approach that will help reduce the effects of negative factors and create a comfortable environment in which patients’ quality of life can be improved. Therefore, an app that will provide extensive data required for enhancing the pain management process is bound to lead to a major improvement.
Proposed Uses for the APP: For In- and Outpatients
As stressed above, the application is geared primarily toward being used at home. Without the supervision of nurses, a patient might be unable to maintain control over their pain levels and identify the factors that cause a change therein. However, the application can also be used to monitor patients’ well-being in a hospital setting (McCracken & Morley, 2014).
Accessibility of this APP: Downloadable at the Hospital’s Official Site
The application will be located at the official site of the hospital. Thus, any patient will be able to download and use it. The application will be available to not only community members but also anyone who is willing to keep their health in check.
Summary: Necessity to Track Chronic Pain Triggers
The factors that contribute to the enhancement of discomfort and pain must be identified and addressed appropriately. Otherwise, one will be unable to provide patients suffering from chronic pain with necessary help. An application that will not only help locate patient-specific factors causing changes in pain levels but also enable target demographics to learn and acquire crucial skills is bound to be very useful.
References
Deer, T. R., Leong, M. S., Buvanendran, A., Kim, P. S., & Panchal, S. J. (2015). Treatment of chronic pain by interventional approaches: The American Academy of pain medicine. Textbook on patient management. New York, NY: Springer.
McCracken, L. M., & Morley, S. J. (2014). The psychological flexibility model: A basis for integration and progress in psychological approaches to chronic pain management. Journal of Pain, 15(3), 221-234.
Pope, J. E., & Deer, T. A. (2017). Treatment of chronic pain conditions: A comprehensive handbook. New York, NY: Springer.