Electronic pain assessment in clinical practice

SUMMARY The assessment and treatment of chronic pain remains an international challenge for healthcare providers among aging patients and rising healthcare costs. This article provides a brief overview of studies on the use of electronic pain diaries and innovative software programs for pain assessment and monitoring among providers and persons with chronic pain. The advent of software pain monitoring programs on smart phones, personal digital assistants and internet-based tracking allow for the collection of large datasets of momentary data to better assist in the management of chronic pain. Electronic tracking in the home and clinic can improve data quality and reduce the biases of recalled information compared with paper diaries and questionnaires. Furthermore, 3D pain mapping programs can enable patients to represent the location and intensity of their pain with greater accuracy. However, despite the benefits, there are a number of barriers to incorporating electronic pain assessment into daily clinical practice. Additional control trials and clinical investigations are needed to demonstrate the efficacy and benefit of electronic pain assessment over and above standard practices.