Q&A: Why Educating Patients on Emerging Pain Technology is Key
Chris Robinson, MD, PhD, joined Drug Topics to discuss the importance of education in newly explored technologies for the treatment of pain.
A collection of newly emerging technology has the ability to revolutionize the treatment of pain for millions of patients worldwide. However, to reach significantly improved outcomes, experts agree it’s on providers to educate patients on the proper use of these new technologies.
In a recent interview, Drug Topics caught up with Chris Robinson, MD, PhD, Director of Pain and Headache Rounds at Harvard-Massachusetts General Hospital, and co-author of “The future of pain medicine: emerging technologies, treatments, and education,” published in the Journal of Pain Research.
In part 2 of our interview, Robinson discussed the education necessary for various technologies emerging in the treatment of pain, including virtual reality, wearable technology, artificial intelligence (AI), neuromodulation, and psychedelics.
"Educating the patient on what they're going to expect is incredibly important," said Robinson. | image credit: Marek / stock.adobe.com
“If we can educate the patient in our own language and then we give them some sort of app or video where AI can adapt it to their education level [and] background, then that patient will feel included and they'll understand more of the technology,” he said. “Education is very key, but we have to deliver it in an efficient manner. That's where a lot of these technologies come into play to alleviate the burden [on] physicians.”
Stay tuned for more from our conversation with Robinson as he dives deeper into new technologies for pain treatment. Part 3 of our interview will take a look to the future and explore Robinson’s long-term hopes for these emerging treatment options.
READ MORE: Q&A: Innovative Technologies Revolutionizing Pain Medicine
Drug Topics: Can you discuss the importance of education for both patients and providers when new technologies for treating pain emerge?
Chris Robinson: The education part is key. In our current climate, we have our payers, who are not reimbursing as much. We may see some change as they may be linking executive pay to customer satisfaction. [But] we have this environment where we're not getting the reimbursements that we need to kind of cover the lights, pay the bills, as well as take-home pay. We're also in another realm where research funding may decrease over time. If we're already missing a large number of patients, we need to educate ourselves better on the [new technologies and] work with these companies because we may not have the time to explain everything to the patient. If a patient doesn't know how to use an item, and the representative from that company isn't always available, how is the patient ever going to use anything?
I think we're guilty of prescribing something and not necessarily understanding how this neuromodulation device works. But if we can understand it, and we can tell the patient in very simple language, they're more likely to use it. Again, this is where AI may be helpful, if we can educate the patient in our own language and then we give them some sort of app or video where AI can adapt it to their education level [and] background, then that patient will feel included and they'll understand more of the technology.
We did a study where we implanted a spinal cord stimulator in a patient, and we decided to follow up with all the patients. There were a group of patients that just never returned. They just didn't know how to use it. This device costs $20,000, [plus] all the hospital facility fees and everything, [it] comes up to be over $100,000. How is it that we're missing this patient education? If we just told the patient, ‘Hey, your device isn't on, that's why it's not working,’ that's simple education. Educating the patient on what they're going to expect is incredibly important, because otherwise we have just cost our health care system a significant amount of money, and the patients doesn’t even realize they don't have it on or they’re not using it appropriately.
Education is very key, but we have to deliver it in an efficient manner. That's where a lot of these technologies come into play to alleviate the burden [on] physicians. I want to take this, maybe a little bit of a tangent, but AI will not take our jobs. It'll assist us in an already overburdened health care system. As humans, we make a lot of errors; machines make fewer errors. When we work together, we can expedite our life together. AI will help us with education. I think overall, we just all have to do a better job. We're all patients at some point; we also have to put the effort into our own health and our own understanding of what we are getting for treatments.
READ MORE: Pain Management Resource Center
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