Computer pain assessment tool

A computer assisted system for objective assessment by a patient of a nature and extent of pain experienced by the patient comprising:

• a computer;
• a memory;
• a computer display screen;
• a user input device;
• and
• a computer program stored in the memory and executed by the computer to
• display a first interactive screen presentation of an anterior and a posterior image of a body replica containing a fixed quantity of pixels via the computer display screen;
• shade on the first interactive screen presentation an area of the body replica representing a pain area based on information provided by the user input device, wherein a shaded number of pixels of the area of the body replica representing the pain area divided by the fixed quantity of pixels in the body replica defines a pain coverage;
• display a second interactive screen presentation that depicts pain characteristics via the computer display screen, wherein the pain characteristics are associated with a color spectrum scale for indicating pain intensity, a preprogrammed list of pain types, and a gray scale for indicating a depth of pain;
• indicate a pain intensity on the color spectrum scale in response to a first user input of at least one of dragging a pointer to and clicking on an intermediate color depicting the pain intensity between no pain and worst pain, wherein the color spectrum scale represents pain intensity on a numeric scale, with a color indicia corresponding to the numeric scale;
• indicate the pain type from the preprogrammed list, wherein the pain type is associated with the pain area based on information provided by the user input device;
• indicate the depth of pain on the gray scale in response to a second user input of at least one of dragging a marker to and clicking on an intermediate gray region depicting the depth of pain between superficial and deep;
• display a third interactive screen presentation via the computer display screen, wherein the third interactive screen presentation comprises data from the first interactive screen presentation and the second interactive screen presentation to display the pain characteristics on the body replica with the pain type represented by a pattern associated with the pain type selected, the pain area represented by an area of the pattern, and the pain intensity represented by a color of the pattern;
• display an option to confirm that the third interactive screen presentation accurately describes the pain experienced by the patient and an option to deny that the third interactive screen presentation accurately describes the pain experienced by the patient via the computer display screen;
• redisplay the first interactive screen presentation for modification via the computer display screen in response to a selection of the option to deny;
• present a final screen with an option for choosing to finish to save data associated with a current pain assessment and an option to start a new pain assessment in response to a selection of the option to confirm via the computer display screen;
• and
• compute an objective pain value from a number of pixels shaded on the first interactive screen presentation divided by the fixed quantity of pixels multiplied by the pain intensity on the numeric scale;
• save the data and create a printable report in response to a selection of the option for choosing to finish.