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Leveraging Electronic Tablets and a Readily Available Data Capture Platform to Assess Chronic Pain in Children: The
Vibha Anand1, Steven J Spalding1
1Center and Department of Pediatric Rheumatology, Pediatric Institute, Cleveland Clinic.
Insights
The Patient Risks Outcomes and Barriers Evaluation (PROBE) system effectively screens pediatric rheumatology patients for chronic pain risks. It identified significant behavioral risk differences in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis experiencing chronic pain.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Rheumatology
- Clinical Informatics
- Pain Management
Background:
- Chronic pain is prevalent in pediatric rheumatology, impacting quality of life.
- Current pain assessment methods can be inconsistent, missing crucial risk factors.
- A systematic approach is needed to integrate risk screening into routine care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate the usability of the Patient Risks Outcomes and Barriers Evaluation (PROBE) system.
- To assess the integration of behavioral risk screening into pediatric rheumatology practice.
- To identify potential differences in behavioral risk factors associated with chronic pain in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
Main Methods:
- The PROBE system was developed using REDCap and iPads for data capture.
- PROBE integrates evidence-based clinical guidelines for pain assessment.
- The system screens for behavioral risks (e.g., anxiety, caregiver pain) and captures disease activity measures, providing clinical decision support.
Main Results:
- PROBE demonstrated usability in pediatric rheumatology practice.
- Significant differences in behavioral risk factors were observed between children with and without chronic pain.
- The system successfully integrated comprehensive pain assessment elements.
Conclusions:
- The PROBE system is a viable tool for consistent and complete pain assessment in pediatric rheumatology.
- PROBE aids in identifying children at risk for chronic pain, enabling targeted interventions.
- This system supports evidence-based care by combining risk screening, disease activity, and decision support.
Abstract:
The Patient Risks Outcomes and Barriers Evaluation (PROBE) system is developed using a readily available data capture platform (REDCap) and iPads. PROBE performs complete and consistent assessment of pain at every patient visit in pediatric rheumatology practices of our very large healthcare system. Using evidence based clinical guidelines, it combines the following essential elements for care: 1) screening for behavioral risks for chronic pain such as anxiety, sleep deprivation, or painful conditions affecting a caregiver living in child's home, 2) capturing disease activity related measures and enabling 3) clinical decision support. In this demonstration project we describe PROBE and evaluate it for usability in practice. Using PROBE, we observed significant differences for behavioral risk factors in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis in those who report chronic pain vs. not.
