Co-Designed Digital Device for Tracking Rehabilitation Dosage in a Clinical Environment After Stroke: Mixed Methods Validity and Feasibility Study.
Fiona Boyd, Gillian Sweeney, Mark Barber and 3 others
PMID 40367485WHAT IT FOUND
A co-designed NFC tracker logged stroke rehabilitation time similarly to staff manual notes with no meaningful difference, and users found it easy to use and feasible for stroke inpatients.
Key findings
01The digital and manual methods agreed across 207 activities (t206=-1.6; P=.11; Cohen d=-0.06), with an average absolute mean time difference of 1.23 minutes (SD 11.01) and limits of agreement from -21.59 to 21.59 minutes.
02Phase 1 reported high usability scores: mean SUS 91.43/100 (SD 9.53) and mean IMI 6.29/7 (SD 1.5).
03In Phase 2, all users could use the tracker, and there were no withdrawals or errors recorded by the tracker or observed by clinical staff.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Only 9 people took part in Phase 1, and 2 withdrew in the final week, so the usability scores may not reflect the full stroke population. Phase 2 included 15 inpatients over 6 months, which is small and may not capture different ward routines, staffing levels, or therapy styles. The average difference between methods was 1.23 minutes, but the limits of agreement were -21.59 to 21.59 minutes, so individual activity times could differ much more than the average suggests. The manual method was the comparator, and the paper notes therapist-reported durations can be inconsistent and overestimated, so agreement with manual notes does not prove the tracker captures true dosage. The tracker records start and stop times at stations, not repetitions, exercise content, active therapy, or intensity, so it cannot show whether therapy was appropriate. No patient outcomes were measured, so this study does not show that tracking rehabilitation dosage improves recovery. The device is a prototype with limited component quality due to funding, so it may not yet be ready for routine clinical use.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the tracker measures rehabilitation quality or improves stroke recovery. It was compared only with manual time notes, and the study did not test patient outcomes.