Empowering Clinicians: A MOOC Initiative in Rehabilitation Technology

Result

In this study, 22 therapists participated. The agreement between different therapists was good when assessing reaching for the glass, drinking, and putting it back (ICC ≥ 0.75). However, when it came to assessing how the glass was transported, the agreement was only moderate. When the same therapist rated the movements multiple times, reliability was very high for the drinking phase (ICC > 0.9) and moderate to good for reaching, transporting, and returning the glass. However, the consistency in evaluating how smoothly the movement was performed and how well different joints worked together was poor, both between different therapists and for the same therapist over multiple assessments. Additionally, we found large variations in reliability scores across all aspects we studied.

While our results suggest promising reliability for the drinking phase, the large variations indicate that these findings might have happened by chance. Because of this, we cannot recommend using therapists’ ratings alone as a "gold standard" for developing an automatic system to assess compensatory movements during a drinking task.

Description

Rehabilitation technology has revolutionized neurorehabilitation worldwide over the last two decades. However, the efficacy of these tools relies heavily on the skills and knowledge of their users. Education emerges as a critical success factor for maximizing the potential of rehabilitation technologies in optimizing patient outcomes.

Current educational offerings mainly consist of BSc and MSc programs or cost-intensive continuing education programs. Thus, there is a lack of easily accessible, cost-effective educational opportunities for clinicians seeking to integrate rehabilitation technology into their practice. This MOOC initiative unites the ZHAW with world leading societies in rehabilitation technology to develop an accessible, budget-friendly educational program for clinicians leveraging technology for improved patient outcomes. The curriculum will encompass fundamental neurophysiological principles, insights into available technologies, and strategies for seamless integration into clinical practice.

Key data