Israeli Biomedical Company Develops a Pain Assessment Monitor

Understanding pain is still a major challenge for millions of doctors and patients around the world: How severe is a patient’s pain? Can the level of pain tell the physician something about the patient’s condition?

An Israeli biomed startup called Medasense has developed a technology that mathematically measures pain in order to give doctors the best assessments. And that’s why last week, the company was announced as one of two winners of the startup competition at the Israel Advanced Technology Industries (IATI) Biomed Conference.

Founded in 2008 by Galit Zuckerman, Medasense’s innovative technology assesses changes in a patient’s level of pain. The company’s flagship product is a non-invasive pain monitoring device that can help clinicians achieve better patient outcomes by accurately adjusting treatment.

Everyone knows that the sensation of pain is completely subjective, and doctors mostly rely on patients’ self-reports. “Pain is now widely considered the fifth vital sign, yet managing pain, especially in the surgical setting, remains a major challenge,” Medasense’s board member Dr. Daniel Sessler said in a statement. “Physicians currently rely on patients’ subjective assessments, or use their own judgment when patients cannot describe their pain. Medasense offers a new approach.”

The new approach involves developing an algorithm that mathematically measures pain. “Some people under anaesthesia remain awake yet paralyzed, not being able to communicate their pain”, Zuckerman tells NoCamels. That’s why it’s important to translate pain into numbers.
How does it work? The pain monitor is a sensor-woven sleeve worn on a patient’s finger, which takes blood pressure, pulse, sweat, temperature and movement readings, using statistical tools to give an objective pain reading. According to the company, the device is expected to receive approval from the EU in the coming months, which would pave the way to marketing elsewhere in the world. So far, Medasense has raised $5 million in private rounds.

Seven years of research

Medasense has spent seven years researching, analyzing data and designing its algorithms before achieving validation for a pain pattern based on data. The company has teamed up with pain management expert Dr. Elon Eisenberg of the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa. “The collaborations we’ve made with doctors and researchers are invaluable,” Zuckerman says.

Read the original article at nocamels.com website here: http://nocamels.com/2015/05/medasenses-pain-assessment-monitor/



Pedagogy offers an online course titled “Current Concepts in Adult Pain Management”
This instructional course has been designed to provide current concepts and skills related to pain control. As research sheds light on pain management issues and treatment methods, nurses are expected to maintain competency in assessing and treating their patients’ pain, as well as the side effects of those pain control interventions. For both the RN and LPN/LVN involved in patient care, this course contains current practices for best patient outcomes.

To view more details or to purchase the course click on the following link

Current Concepts in Adult Pain Management