Pain Management

Project Scope

With Pain Management referrals coming from a range of sources and having a broad range of severity and urgency, up until now, Pain Management Teams have had no quick and effective way of triaging or prioritising patients prior to the initial clinic consultation. Furthermore, after the initial assessment has taken place, many patients are brought back into clinic at set intervals, regardless of the severity of symptoms.

Amplitude has developed an administratively efficient process to accurately triage patients, record treatment and remotely monitor patients with ease, during the course of their care. This produces significant time savings for clinical staff who are therefore able to spend their time focussing on direct patient care as well as ensuring those patients with the highest priority are dealt with in a timely manner.

The solution deployed by Amplitude fits into normal working routines, so is not onerous for clinicians or administrators. The purpose-built pain management pathways have been developed in collaboration with front line clinical teams. The system provides an efficient and effective means of assessing and monitoring patients using a range of validated, quality of life and pain scores and assessments. Observing patient symptoms and severity without the need to bring them into clinic.

After a patient is entered onto the pain management pathway and the Pain Treatment form is completed, communication with the patient is automated and the platform will send pathway specified questionnaires, at set time periods, without requiring any additional clinician input.

We understand that treatments will differ from patient to patient and so the platform offers the flexibility to request ad-hoc and supplementary questionnaires to gain a greater understanding of the patient’s needs. Whatever the treatment plan, if a patient records significant deterioration from expected parameters, the clinician is alerted by Amplitude’s unique Trigger Alert Function, to review the patient and arrange an urgent appointment and change treatment, as necessary.

The overall benefits of the system are:

• Providing clinicians with more complete information about the patient’s problems prior to clinic appointments so that clinic time is optimised.
• Freeing up clinical time spent on administration and patient assessment.
• Reducing the amount of unnecessary outpatient appointments for patients who are responding well to treatment.
• Increasing available outpatient appointments by reducing unnecessary routine reviews.
• Increasing availability of outpatient appointments so that patients suffering flare-ups can be seen immediately, whether identified through the electronic alerts of deteriorated scores or direct contact from patients.

This new approach has a positive impact on patient care as well as enabling clinicians to spend more time with those patients who need them most.

The simplicity with which the relevant clinical record is captured, quantified by the patients’ outcome scores, means the clinician has real-time access (no dictation delay), so whenever a patient is reviewed, their record is quick to access and up to date.

New Process and Benefits

Patient Referred – Initial appointment scheduled and baseline scores sent to the patient

Clinical Appointments – Initial diagnostic made and treatment plan created in Amplitude

Patient is Monitored Remotely – Symptoms are triaged and patients are invited when required

• Clinicians can monitor a patient’s quality of life in addition to the patient’s symptoms, helping the clinical team to triage those in greatest need of face-to-face appointments.
• Patients no longer get unnecessary routine appointments. Existing users are seeing an average of 30% of appointments freed up to be used for new referrals or urgent appointments.
• Increase in the accuracy of data being collected (reduced opportunity for human error).
• All patients receive continued interaction from their clinician, with the alert trigger functionality alerting the clinical team to severe deterioration in the patient’s condition.
• Clinicians have access to a patient’s record (no 3-6 weeks delay while clinic notes are typed, or severity scores transposed into the system).
• Clinical teams have instant access to the diagnosis, treatment history and response to individual treatment regimens.
• There is a structured pathway approach to treatment regimes, based on documented and evidence-based responses meaning consistent standards of care are achieved across the department.

About Amplitude

• Amplitude is a specialist clinical outcomes platform with installations in over 25 Trusts in the UK.
• The system is pre-loaded with hundreds of clinical pathways, specific to the clinical requirements of a wide range of specialties, interventions and diseases.
• As a result, the platform is almost plug and play with the ability to configure to your departments’ needs and workflows.
• The system can be up and running in a department within weeks.

What Results can Amplitude Achieve

The benefits of using Amplitude have the greatest impact when the Pain Management team is fully engaged and adapt to incorporate Amplitude into their workflows.

Best practice incorporates:

• Discussing PROMs and Amplitude during the initial referral appointment, explaining the importance not just for their treatment and recovery but to shape the future of treatments being delivered and offered.
• Introducing tablets or laptops into the clinic waiting area to ensure that patients who have not yet recorded their outcomes can do so prior to their appointment.
• Discussing PROMs results with the patient in clinic to reinforce their use in the patient’s treatment plan.
• Utilising an interface with the Trust EHR system to fully automate and minimise admin requirements.