'This sounds like science fiction to a lot of people, but it's a lot more feasible than people think.'
It sounds like science fiction, but University of Regina researchers are developing cameras to flag when non-verbal adults with dementia are in pain and a notification system to alert staff of their anguish.
For many years, Thomas Hadjistavropoulos, co-leader of the research project, has studied the problem of people with severe dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease, who can’t communicate they are in pain.
“You can have somebody with a tooth abscess, which is tremendously painful, and the pain can go undetected for days, sometimes longer,” he said.
People with severe dementia who have untreated pain can turn aggressive. The aggression is attributed to a psychiatric problem and psychotropic medications are prescribed, which don’t treat the pain, but increase the risk of death by falls or stroke.
“For frail people with dementia, psychotropic medications should be used with a great deal of caution,” Hadjistavropoulos said.
He and his graduate students have developed methods for detecting, evaluating and measuring pain in adults with dementia through pain behaviours — specific facial responses that are relatively uncommon in situations other than pain.
A lowered eyebrow or wince are things staff would notice if they had time to watch residents closely, but often resources are limited.
“That got us thinking, what if we were able to detect and monitor these behaviours in an automated way and reduce the need for a nurse or another clinician to go around and look for pain behaviours on a regular basis — what if a system could do that?” Hadjistavropoulos said.
They’ve come up with a system of strategically placed cameras that send information to a computer which analyzes it based on an algorithm.
When the system detects patients who are in pain, nursing staff will be sent an email, and a light at the nursing station would flash indicating an email was sent.