Usability study of a post TKA prototype Tele-Rehabilitation platform
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Usability study of a scalable post total knee arthroplasty Tele-Rehabilitation platform prototype
IRAS ID
198594
Contact name
Tom Gerards
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Strathclyde RKES
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 31 days
Research summary
Tele-Rehabilitation(TR) is the delivery of rehabilitation services by distance using Information Technology (ICT). In the past, the use of TR has been studied in a small scale and shown to be a viable way of delivering rehabilitation. Moreover it was shown that TR has the potential to improve clinical outcomes, improve access to the service and potentially reduce cost. TR could also enable unsupervised exercise, a major advantage as there currently is a shortage of rehabilitation. In order to advance the field of TR, there is a need for large scale studies to provide definitive evidence for the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of TR. Unfortunately the technology that has been developed in the past was found unsuitable for use at a large scale. Therefore, in order to enable large scale studies, a scalable (able to be used at large scale) TR platform has been developed by the researcher in this project.
This platform consists of an Android tablet computer for the patient, running an app made for this study, linked to a physiotherapist’s computer using the internet. This enables functions such as videoconferencing. The app also links to a three D printed knee electro-goniometer (knee angle measuring device) which can record exercise taken and feed this to the physiotherapist.The platform that was developed has so far been shown to meet all the requirements needed for it to be scalable. There is one aspect however that remains untested; ease of use by patients (usability). Usability is a critical aspect of scalability,
The aim of this study is to determine if the platform has sufficient usability when used by total knee replacement patients.REC name
London - Surrey Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/LO/1295
Date of REC Opinion
6 Jul 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion