Technology in Pediatric Pain Management
Patrick J. McGrath, Carolyn Watters, and Erin Moon
Summary
Technology could lead to significant improvements in pediatric pain care. Increasing access and effectiveness of treatment and improving measurement are possible, but this potential has not yet been met. In this chapter, we review the use of videoconferencing, telephone- or Web-enabled systems of treatment, private computer networks, computer kiosks, Internet listservs, personal digital assistants, videos, electronic medical records, and virtual reality in consultation, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of pediatric patients with pain patients and education of pediatric pain professionals.
Key Words: Computerized telephony; pediatric pain; technology; telehealth; telemed- icine; World Wide Web.
1. Introduction
The major goals of the use of technology in pediatric pain care are to increase access to pain treatment, increase the effectiveness of pain treatment, decrease the unit cost of interventions, and increase the accuracy of measurement, thereby facilitating the evaluation of treatments. Since 1980, much of our world has been transformed by technology. Most of us use the World Wide Web daily to book airline flights, do our banking, buy merchandise, and find information. Many university classes are taught using Web technology. Almost all term papers are written with information obtained from the Web, and professors check these term papers on the Web for plagiarism. Most of our new major appliances and automobiles have embedded computers, and our children spend hours playing video games. Even the production of this book has been transformed by techno- logy. Computers have revolutionized the way we work, the way we learn, and the way we play.
Our health care system uses technology in the form of sophisticated imaging equipment and accounting systems. Word-processing computers are used instead
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From: Bringing Pain Relief to Children: Treatment Approaches
Edited by: G. A. Finley, P. J. McGrath, and C. T. Chambers © Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ