In Progress
This is an innovation project supported by the Better Care Victoria Innovation Fund.
Lead organisation
Austin Health
Summary
Austin Health operates a community-based pain service that provides group education and pain management programs as well as individual treatment and education from a multidisciplinary team of allied health, nursing and medical professionals.
While the service has been well received by clients and effective in reducing pain-related disability, steadily rising demand has increased the service’s wait times to three months, delaying access to education and resources that would help clients learn how to live with persistent pain.
Austin Health plans to build an online learning management system (LMS) that will provide clients with earlier access to education, care and clinical support, enabling them to better manage their pain in their own home and community.
The new Live better! LMS platform and online program will allow clients to access the information, education and resources they need in a way that suits their individual circumstances and preferences.
Aims
- Reduce the wait time for patients to access the Austin Health Pain Service’s education and self-management strategies
- Improve access to the Pain Service for those who are unable to attend the centre-based programs
- Deliver positive health outcomes through the LMS that are comparable to those achieved by the centre-based programs
- Improve the patient experience by providing more flexible, accessible and client-centred education on persistent pain
Update
August 2021 - Austin Health is in the final days of testing a new online education package that will reduce the number of days Victorians wait to access pain management services.
With our support, the online Live Better Persistence Pain learning tool was built after a review of statewide pain management services found people often faced delays between referral to a service and the start of a required education program. With the online option, people who are in enormous amounts of ongoing pain can do the education when and where they like. We will report on the outcomes from this project later this year.