The digitisation of pain management programmes: What can we learn from computerised psychological therapy and the impact of COVID-19?

The pressing need for alternative forms of connecting with patients and delivering care to them has been drawn into sharp focus by the COVID-19 pandemic that has tested healthcare systems to their limits. Staff have been redeployed from delivering care as usual, vulnerable patients have been advised to self-isolate, and traditional ways of working have been turned on their head overnight. A recent review highlights the critical need to harness digital technology in order to continue providing care to those with persistent pain, a population that are known to worsen without effective assessment and treatment, and who are expected to be significantly and adversely impacted by the pandemic. The current article examines current efforts to deliver pain management programmes (PMPs) via digital (computerised) methods and how effective this has been. Parallels are drawn with the neighboring field of computerised psychotherapy, in order to draw attention to directions for future evaluations, in order to establish with confidence how effective computerised PMPs are, and for whom.