AN EFFECTIVE TABLET PROGRAM FOR COLLECTING PAIN DATA FROM PATIENTS
Author(s)
Wade A, Crawford GM
Patients Direct, Glasgow, UK
Presentation Documents
OBJECTIVES: To show how a simple tablet program can be successfully used with minimal supervision and instruction to collect pain data from patients. METHODS: The data collection method was an Android application, designed to be run on a tablet. There was a tutorial to explain how to enter data, and a nurse was present to activate the survey and support the patient, if necessary. The application displayed a timer and prompted the patient to report their pain level at each time point, and within a set window, using a sliding scale (0–10). Patient data were stored on an internal database within the application and subsequently uploaded to a local database server. RESULTS: The primary objective of the study was to determine the time to onset of significant pain relief in patients applying ibuprofen gel, ibuprofen gel with levomenthol, or diclofenac gel to treat soft tissue injuries. Significant pain relief was defined as a reduction of 2 points on an 11 point numeric rating scale (NRS) for pain. One patient was affected by a bug in the data collection system, but the problem was discovered and resolved before the next patient was scheduled. The remaining 181 patients used the tablets to input data on their pain levels at 17 time points over a 2 hour period following gel application, allowing the primary study objective to be assessed. Excluding the patient affected by the bug, who was not assessed, only thirteen patients had some missing time point data and there were only 18 missing data points from a total of 3,077 (0.6%). CONCLUSIONS: The tablet program was easy to use, resulting in high completion rates. Electronic prompting meant that data could be reliably collected at precise time points, and patients could input data themselves, which reduced labour costs.
Conference/Value in Health Info
2017-11, ISPOR Europe 2017, Glasgow, Scotland
Value in Health, Vol. 20, No. 9 (October 2017)
Code
PSY89
Topic
Patient-Centered Research
Topic Subcategory
Patient-reported Outcomes & Quality of Life Outcomes
Disease
Multiple Diseases, Systemic Disorders/Conditions