Arts Thread

Chronic pain patients are often caught in a healthcare system that implicitly positions them to be passive recipients of care while simultaneously requiring them to be active coordinators of their own treatment trajectory. This fundamental contradiction leaves patients feeling stuck in a loop and reduced to mere clinical data points as they navigate fragmented services without the tools or support needed to take meaningful ownership of their care. PainPass addresses this contradiction by reframing patient documentation from an extractive process to an empowerment tool, inviting active patient engagement. Rather than patients providing information that disappears into clinical systems, the intervention introduces patient-owned documentation that travels with them across providers and appointments. In placing a personal pain care passport, and by extension, the person, at the centre of redesigned service touchpoints, PainPass transforms the relationship between patients and healthcare providers from passive compliance to collaborative documentation. The intervention shows promises in improving the patient experience with ownership, continuity, and independence, ultimately demonstrating how design can tackle wicked problems by empowering those most affected to become active participants in the solution itself.