ISPO UK MS ASM 2023 - Poster Exhibition

Development of a PowerPoint presentation to improve patient understanding of prosthetic rehabilitation pathway at West Midlands Rehabilitation Centre

 

Presenter:  Umer Saeed, Specialty Trainee Registrar, NHS - West Midlands Rehabilitation Centre, Birmingham, UK

E-mail:  umer.saeed1@nhs.net

Other authors:  Elizabeth Wood, Geoffrey Yu, Muhammad Chughtai, Poornashree Ramamurthy, Thuya Win

 

Aim:
During pre-amputation consultations at West Midlands Rehabilitation Centre (WMRC) we always try to ensure that our patients are able to develop best possible understanding of prosthetic rehabilitation pathway. The aim is to support them through toughest and life changing moments in their lives and address their concerns and uncertainties involved in the process of rehabilitation. Usually this is achieved by a detailed explanation by the clinician. Patients are also given links for various helpful organizations and support peer groups. To give patients a more practical understanding of prosthesis, they would be shown relevant prosthesis in the clinic. This has proven cumbersome at times especially when clinicians are attending inpatient referrals from other hospitals and in community. We have been feeling the need of devising a way which could improve this experience for our patients and give them information in a clearer, structured, and standardized format.

Methods:
After taking informed consents from our patients who were at various stages of prosthetic rehabilitation, we took pictures and made videos. These included different levels of amputations including Hindquarter, transfemoral, knee disarticulation, transtibial, Syme’s and trans metatarsal amputations. Pictures showed healing of stump, role of shrinker socks and different types of prosthesis. It also included videos of donning of prosthesis, walking with PPAM Aid and Femurrett in parallel bars. Most of the pictures were taken and all the videos were made at WMRC.

Results:
The outcome of this endeavor was a PowerPoint presentation showing progressive stages of prosthetic rehabilitation at various levels of amputations. 

Conclusions:
We feel such a presentation will improve our patients understanding of prosthetic rehabilitation pathway and give them better opportunity to be involved in their care plans. To further improve our patient experience, we plan to create a booklet using this which can be given to patients for detailed and descriptive information regarding stages of prosthetic rehabilitation along with the links for helpful organizations and support peer groups.