Remote Rehabilitation: A Solution to Overloaded & Scarce Health Care Systems

Abstract

The population across Northern Europe is aging. Coupled with socio-economic challenges, health care systems are at risk of overloading and incurring unsustainable high costs. Rehabilitation services are used disproportionately by older people. One solution pertinent to rural areas is to change the model of rehabilitation to incorporate new technologies. This has the potential to free resources and reduce costs. However, implementation is challenging. In the Northern Periphery and Artic Programme (NPA), the Smart sensor Devices for rehabilitation and Connected health (SENDoc) project [1] is focused on introducing wearable sensor systems among elderly communities to support their rehabilitation. It is important to understand the context into which change is introduced. Therefore, an overview of the current state of health care systems in the four partner countries is presented, defining the concept of rehabilitation and how remote rehabilitation is currently delivered. Advantages (e.g. enhanced outcomes, less cost and enhanced patient engagement), and disadvantages of remote rehabilitation (e.g. complexity involved in the use of technology, design and safety issues) are discussed. It is concluded that the key advantage of remote rehabilitation is the potential to support change in patient behaviour, empowering active participation and living independently, with less need to travel for face-to-face sessions. Remote rehabilitation can make enhance quality of health care service delivery.However, all relevant stakeholders including medical staff and patients should be included in the design of the technology employed with a focus on simplicity, usability and robustness. Compliance with Security and the new GDPR regulation will be key to supporting remote rehabilitation. In addition, the diversity of available platforms and devices must also be supported to ensure interoperability. Finally, remote rehabilitation needs to be further validated in practice. Attempts to implement and sustain change should be cognisant of local and current organization of health care and of existing enablers and barriers.

Pelvic floor muscle training: Novel versus traditional remote rehabilitation methods. A systematic review and meta‐analysis on their effectiveness for women with urinary incontinence

“…Over recent years, and, along with the COVID‐19 changes, remote PFM rehabilitation programs have been developed, introducing a novel way of “therapeutic contact” between patient and therapist. Remote rehabilitation is defined as any way of providing rehabilitation to patients away from the ordinary rehabilitation environments, such as their homes or other places of choice 15 . PFM remote rehabilitation entails a wide range of different types of rehabilitation, 15 from more modern PFM exercise rehabilitation methods, such as mobile application (app) programmes, 16,17 web‐based programs, 18,19 emailed, 18,19 assistive vaginal devices, 20–26 videoconferencing, 27 to more traditional ones, such as home‐based exercises with printed or posted exercise instructions.…”

“…Remote rehabilitation is defined as any way of providing rehabilitation to patients away from the ordinary rehabilitation environments, such as their homes or other places of choice. 15 PFM remote rehabilitation entails a wide range of different types of rehabilitation, 15 from more modern PFM exercise rehabilitation methods, such as mobile application (app) programmes, 16,17 web-based programs, 18,19 emailed, 18,19 assistive vaginal devices, [20][21][22][23][24][25][26] videoconferencing, 27 to more traditional ones, such as home-based exercises with printed or posted exercise instructions. Remote rehabilitation offers patients the opportunity to perform their exercises with comfort, less cost, less traveling and less energy expense.…”

Factors Influencing Continued Wearable Device Use in Older Adult Populations: Quantitative Study

“…This aging population, accompanied by an increasing number of older adults becoming physically inactive [ 2 ], is placing an additional burden on health care systems and directing research toward early detection or prevention of future medical issues. Remote rehabilitation and monitoring provide an opportunity to reduce demands on health care systems and the inevitable costs associated with providing care for an aging population [ 3 ]. Remote rehabilitation can allow for access to health-based resources such as nurses, health practitioners, and specialists through technology while avoiding associated costs such as travel [ 4 ]—from both a monetary and environmental perspective.…”

Non-Invasive Assessment of Cartilage Damage of the Human Knee Using Acoustic Emission Monitoring: A Pilot Cadaver Study

“…At the same time, patientreported outcomes are relatively subjective and not sufficiently sensitive [5], and functional tests may only represent a specific physical function [6]. Moreover, due to the recent global focus on telemedicine and remote assessment [7], [8], the need for diagnostic tools that are not tied to a clinical site is evident. Therefore, digital technologies that can provide interactive remote orthopedic examinations are expected to remain the focus of future research [9].…”