By Bill Thomas | August 16, 2024
The toolbox of medical devices used by doctors and patients all around the world is ever-growing. Surprisingly, among the most versatile pieces of health-management technology is one almost everyone today has access to. In fact, you’re probably carrying it around in your pocket right now: your smartphone.
Smartphones are like modern-day Swiss army knives, able to serve a diverse array of functions thanks to the constantly expanding app market. For example, there are apps capable of turning your phone into a medication tracker, a symptom checker, an easy-access medical record database, or even a direct line to telehealth care professionals.
Now, a team of pediatric cancer researchers from the University of Toronto’s Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and University of Toronto-affiliated Hospital for Sick Children is hoping to harness the versatility of smartphones by developing a pain management app for pediatric cancer patients. Recently published in PLOS Digital Health a new study by the team found that parents and clinicians responded positively to the app, describing it as useful, safe and convenient.
“The burden of caring and pain management for these children falls on parents when they are at home and kids can experience frequent and sometimes severe cancer pain,” explained University of Toronto Assistant Professor Lindsay Jibb, who led the study. “The goal of our mobile app is to ease this burden and help both parents and children receive better quality pain management.”

Though the app is still in an early pilot stage, participants in the study said it provided them with a sense of empowerment and suggested that it could be especially helpful for parents of newly diagnosed pediatric cancer patients. In its current form, the app includes a library of pharmacological advice as well as advice for psychological and physical symptoms that a child may experience. The algorithm-based instructions instruct parents how to help children respond to certain types of pain, including such exercises as belly breathing, stretching, and mindfulness sessions. The advice is targeted to parents based on their children’s age and development stage.
“Digital and mobile apps are used for a variety of reasons, and it is surprising that they are not more routinely used in healthcare,” Jibb said. “As technology continues to advance, particularly with artificial intelligence, the capacity to connect people who are outside the hospital with real-time care and support will hopefully continue to expand.”
Anyone interested in learning more about the University of Toronto’s pain management app can read the paper published in PLOS Digital Health. To stay up-to-date with all the latest news shaping the future of pediatric cancer treatment, don’t forget to follow the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation Profectus Blog!