Integrating a gait analysis test in hospital rehabilitation: A service design approach

Marín, J. ; Blanco, T. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Marín, J.J. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Moreno, A. ; Martitegui, E. ; Aragüés, J.C. (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Resumen: Background
Gait analysis with motion capture (MoCap) during rehabilitation can provide objective information to facilitate treatment decision making. However, designing a test to be integrated into healthcare services requires considering multiple design factors. The difficulty of integrating a ''micro-service'' (gait test) within a ''macro-service'' (healthcare service) has received little attention in the gait analysis literature. It is a challenge that goes beyond the gait analysis case study because service design methods commonly focus on the entire service design (macro-level).
Objective
This study aims to extract design considerations and generate guidelines to integrate MoCap technology for gait analysis in the hospital rehabilitation setting. Specifically, the aim is to design a gait test to assess the response of the applied treatments through pre- and post-measurement sessions. Methods We focused on patients with spasticity who received botulinum toxin treatment. A qualitative research design was used to investigate the integration of a gait analysis system based on inertial measurement units in a rehabilitation service at a reference hospital. The methodological approach was based on contrasted methodologies from the service design field, which materialise through observation techniques (during system use), semi-structured interviews, and workshops with healthcare professionals (13 patients, 10 ''proxies'', and 6 doctors).
Results
The analysis resulted in six themes: (1) patients'' understanding, (2) guiding the gait tests, (3) which professionals guide the gait tests, (4) gait test reports, (5) requesting gait tests (doctors and test guide communication), and the (6) conceptual design of the service with the gait test.
Conclusions
The extracted design considerations and guidelines increase the applicability and usefulness of the gait analysis technology, improving the link between technologists and healthcare professionals. The proposed methodological approach can also be useful for service design teams that deal with the integration of one service into another.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224409

Año: 2019

Publicado en: PLoS ONE 14, 10 (2019), e0224409 [23 pp]
ISSN: 1932-6203

Factor impacto JCR: 2.74 (2019)

Categ. JCR: MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES rank: 27 / 71 = 0.38 (2019) - Q2 - T2

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 1.023 - Multidisciplinary (Q1)

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Area Filosofía (Dpto. Filosofía)
Área (Departamento): Área Proyectos de Ingeniería (Dpto. Ingeniería Diseño Fabri.)
Área (Departamento): Área Expresión Gráfica en Ing. (Dpto. Ingeniería Diseño Fabri.)