Using assistive technologies for people with pain: A scoping review on required competencies for healthcare...

Pain is a significant global burden impacting healthcare resources and patients. Assistive technology can help ease the burden, but the available literature regarding specific skills and competencies required by healthcare professionals to effectively support patients with pain is very heterogeneous. This scoping review explored and mapped the skills and competencies needed by healthcare professionals to utilize the assistive technologies, mobile applications, monitoring, telemedicine/telehealth, and augmented/virtual reality in pain management. The search strategy involved multiple databases and manual searching of reference lists, focusing on publications from 2018 to 2026. All publications underwent independent screening and data extraction by two members of the review team. The screening, selection, and data extraction process was carried out using Covidence. The review includes 76 publications providing insight into the skills and competencies of healthcare professionals in using technologies and supporting the needs of patients with pain. The information identified on skills and competencies included understanding potential adverse effects, technical proficiency, effective communication, and the ability to integrate assistive technologies into standard procedures and routines. To support people with pain, focus should be on personalizing the use of assistive technologies to meet individual patient needs, addressing usability concerns, and ensuring patient safety and engagement.