PainChek® App

PainChek® combines AI-driven analysis with user-guided features to accurately and consistently identify pain, creating personalised pain profiles that deliver improved care outcomes. PainChek® assesses 42 pain-related indicators across six key areas: Face, Voice, Movement, Behaviour, Activity, and Body.

As the world’s first regulatory-validated medical device for pain assessment, PainChek® provides healthcare professionals with a proven solution for identifying and managing pain across all care settings.

Collaboration

Miloš Stevanović

Role

Product Designer

Responsibilities

Design, Prototype

Client

PainCheck

Summary

PainChek is the world’s first pain assessment tool that has regulatory clearance in Australia and Europe. Using AI and facial recognition technology, PainChek® provides carers across multiple clinical areas with three important new clinical benefits:

• The ability to identify the presence of pain, when pain isn’t obvious
• To quantify the severity level of pain, when pain is obvious, and;
• To monitor the impact of treatment to optimise overall care

This product won Good Design Awward - the highest honour for design innovation in Australia.

How PainChek®’s AI-based facial analysis works

PainChek®'s advanced AI-based facial analysis identifies the right facial expressions that indicate pain. It is based on the groundbreaking research of Dr. Paul Ekman, a leading expert in the study of emotions and their connection to facial expressions. Facial analysis is particularly effective for those living with cognitive impairments as they are unable to consciously control or filter their facial expressions. Facial expressions are dynamic and multidimensional, making them the most encodable form of pain behaviour. They provide crucial signals that PainChek® uses to accurately identify the presence of pain.
PainChek®’s AI model has been trained on thousands of real cases involving individuals in genuine pain, allowing it to reliably and consistently recognise the facial expressions associated with pain.

Defining and Researching the Problem

The design process began by deeply understanding the challenges faced by caregivers in pain assessment. PainChek® aimed to address three critical pain management issues:

• Identifying pain when it is not obvious.
• Quantifying pain severity when it is visible.
• Monitoring treatment effectiveness to optimise care.

We collaborated with stakeholders, including caregivers, clinicians, and AI experts, to map the current pain assessment workflow and its pain points. We conducted user interviews and reviewed clinical research, including Dr. Paul Ekman’s findings on facial expressions and pain, to understand how technology could augment human decision-making.
Key insights:

• Accessibility: The tool needed to accommodate users with varying tech skills.
• Reliability: Data accuracy and compliance with regulatory standards were non-negotiable.
• Versatility: The app had to support both AI-driven and manual assessments to cater to diverse caregiving scenarios.

Here are some initial wireframes:

Onboarding Process

The onboarding process is designed to ensure both ease of use and secure access for healthcare professionals, incorporating Setup and Login stages:

Setup:

• Guides users through device pairing and staff account activation.
• Ensures the app is securely linked to the clinic’s system for real-time data integration and compliance.

Login Options:

• Email and Password: For first-time users or full account management, ensuring a secure and traditional authentication process.
• Quick Sign-In (PIN): A 4-digit PIN for returning users, enabling fast and convenient access, particularly suited for busy clinical environments.

By combining a guided setup with dual-login options, the process ensures a seamless onboarding experience tailored to the needs of healthcare professionals.

Forming a Hypothesis and Defining Success

Based on research, we hypothesised that a seamless, dual-mode pain assessment tool could empower caregivers to make faster, more informed decisions. Success metrics included:

• Adoption Rate: Ensuring caregivers could easily integrate PainChek® into their workflows.
• Accuracy: High reliability of pain detection and severity scoring.
• Usability: Positive feedback from caregivers on ease of use and educational value.
• Impact: Demonstrated improvement in patient care outcomes, validated by analytics.

Here is an example of a manual assessment flow:

Prototype, Test, Repeat

Wireframing and Prototyping
I created low-fidelity wireframes to outline the user journey for both AI-driven and manual pain assessments. These prototypes were designed to ensure:

• Clarity in guiding users through the assessment process.
• Efficient navigation for real-time data input and review.
• A visual hierarchy that prioritised critical actions like initiating assessments and accessing reports.

Usability Testing
The initial prototypes were tested with caregivers in various clinical settings, revealing key improvements:

• Simplified terminology to reduce cognitive load.
• Enhanced onboarding to familiarise users with AI-driven features.
• Intuitive placement of controls for manual assessment, making them easy to locate under stress.

Iteration
Feedback-driven iterations included:

• Adding a progress indicator to the manual assessment flow for transparency.
• Refining visual feedback in the AI mode to enhance user confidence in results.
• Streamlining the analytics dashboard to highlight actionable insights.

Final Deliverable and Outcomes

PainChek® Analytics Portal

We designed the PainChek® Analytics Portal to help healthcare professionals improve pain management through actionable insights. The portal consolidates historical pain data, enabling early detection of pain trends, informed decision-making, personalised care planning, and consistent care delivery.

Key features include:

• Visual Dashboard: Clear overview of pain metrics for quick interpretation.
• Detailed Reports: Supports regulatory compliance and tailored care plans.
• API Integration: Seamlessly connects with provider systems for direct access to analytics.
• The design ensures an intuitive and efficient user experience, empowering clinicians to optimise patient care through data-driven insights.

Expanding to PainChek® Infant for Professionals

Building on the success of the original PainChek® platform, we extended its capabilities to address a critical need in pediatric healthcare: the accurate and objective assessment of pain in infants aged 1-12 months. This led to the launch of PainChek® Infant for Professionals, the world’s first validated medical device for assessing post-procedural pain in this age group.