{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"MedTech Speed to Data","title":"Developing a Clinically Useful Pain Assessment Tool : 37","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2044,"description":"Transforming Chronic Pain Treatment with a Lean, Data-focused Development StrategyBased in Washington, DC, AlgometRx has developed a technology platform that will let clinicians perform objective pain assessments to improve treatments for chronic pain.In Episode 37 of the MedTech Speed to Data Podcast, Key Tech’s Andy Rogers and AlgometRx Chief Operating Officer Kevin Jackson discuss how collecting the right data sped the Nociometer platform’s development.Need to knowPain diagnosis is challenging — Patients self-report their experience, which is inherently subjective and variable.Pain treatment involves trial and error — Finding the right treatment plan often requires a months-long iterative process.Risks of inappropriate drug treatments increase — Poor understanding of pain’s causes leads to the over-prescription of the wrong drugs, a contributing factor to the opiate crisis.The nitty-grittyAlgometRx’s technology platform emerged from research by the company’s founder, Dr. Julia Finkel at Children’s National Hospital. A pediatric anesthesiologist, Dr. Finkel must assess pain in children who lack the words to describe their experiences.“She wanted something that she could use in clinic to help better understand patients’ pain,” Jackson explains. “Something that’s simple enough that anyone could use in a variety of settings.”The Nociometer platform selectively activates nerve fibers and evaluates the patient’s physical response — without causing additional pain.“We’re able to identify the physiologic underpinnings of that pain experience, and that allows clinicians to better understand what’s happening.”An objective assessment of the patient’s pain lets the clinician make faster, better-informed decisions, but the real value will come from monitoring treatments. Rather than waiting three months to see if a treatment works, patients can return to the clinic a week later for a follow-up measurement. “That gives the clinician different information they wouldn’t have...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/D6hMCysuuZpZO9MQfRbgtr2o9UZ_Mtc0h1qVAxU8GII/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS83MGQ2/N2MwMDdmNTRmOTRl/M2Y0MTcyNjAwN2Mz/OWRlZi5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}