Improving outpatient physical therapy
Name
930713370-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
6.31 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
122083de4ed9d1cca75cfe03d1a572f5
Author(s)
Driscoll, Joseph A., M. Eng. (Joseph Allen). Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Advisor(s)
Peter Szolovits.
Date Issued
2015
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Outpatient physical therapy loses effectiveness due to long wait times in between clinical visits. PT Helper is a system designed to combat this disadvantage in three ways. PT Helper increases the effectiveness of the patient-clinician interview conducted at the beginning of each clinical visit by presenting the physical therapist with a correlated account of a patient's pain and activity level. PT Helper increases the likelihood of patients' performing their assigned exercises correctly by providing a medium of instruction that cannot be lost or discarded. Finally, PT Helper encourages patients to perform assigned exercises utilizing both positive and negative reinforcement. PT Helper was developed with feedback from clinical physical therapists and evaluated by former patients, current patients, and an athletic trainer. These evaluations support the hypotheses that PT Helper is a useful tool in both increasing the efficiency of the patient-clinician interview, and encouraging patients to perform their assigned exercises correctly.
Description
Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2015.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (page 77).
Subjects
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
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