Abstract
BackgroundThere is growing interest in the use of technology in neurorehabilitation, from robotic to sensor-based devices. These technologies are believed to be excellent tools for quantitative assessment of sensorimotor ability, addressing the shortcomings of traditional clinical assessments. However, clinical adoption of technology-based assessments is very limited. To understand this apparent contradiction, we sought to gather the points-of-view of different stakeholders in the development and use of technology-aided sensorimotor assessments.MethodsA questionnaire regarding motivators, barriers, and the future of technology-aided assessments was prepared and disseminated online. To promote discussion, we present an initial analysis of the dataset; raw responses are provided to the community as Supplementary Material. Average responses within stakeholder groups were compared across groups. Additional questions about respondent’s demographics and professional practice were used to obtain a view of the current landscape of sensorimotor assessments and interactions between different stakeholders.ResultsOne hundred forty respondents from 23 countries completed the survey. Respondents were a mix of Clinicians (27%), Research Engineers (34%), Basic Scientists (15%), Medical Industry professionals (16%), Patients (2%) and Others (6%). Most respondents were experienced in rehabilitation within their professions (67% with > 5 years of experience), and had exposure to technology-aided assessments (97% of respondents). In general, stakeholders agreed on reasons for performing assessments, level of details required, current bottlenecks, and future directions. However, there were disagreements between and within stakeholders in aspects such as frequency of assessments, and important factors hindering adoption of technology-aided assessments, e.g., Clinicians’ top factor was cost, while Research Engineers indicated device-dependent factors and lack of standardization. Overall, lack of time, cost, lack of standardization and poor understanding/lack of interpretability were the major factors hindering the adoption of technology-aided assessments in clinical practice. Reimbursement and standardization of technology-aided assessments were rated as the top two activities to pursue in the coming years to promote the field of technology-aided sensorimotor assessments.ConclusionsThere is an urgent need for standardization in technology-aided assessments. These efforts should be accompanied by quality cross-disciplinary activities, education and alignment of scientific language, to more effectively promote the clinical use of assessment technologies.Trial registrationNA; see Declarations section.
Highlights
There is growing interest in the use of technology in neurorehabilitation, from robotic to sensorbased devices
Online questionnaire The survey was conducted as an online questionnaire designed to gather the views of different stakeholders in sensorimotor assessments for neurorehabilitation
Stakeholders agreed, in general, about the level of detail required from assessments for different purposes (Table 7): communication with government bodies, insurance companies and patients were perceived to require the lowest amount of detail, followed by evaluation or selection of therapies, and determining medications or invasive interventions. These results indicate that there is an alignment across stakeholder groups about the general reasons for doing sensorimotor assessments, and the level of detail required for different goals
Summary
There is growing interest in the use of technology in neurorehabilitation, from robotic to sensorbased devices. Despite the rich literature on technology-driven assessment of sensorimotor functions, the assessment tools currently used in clinics are generally limited to standard clinical scales and a trained clinician’s observation of a patient’s ability. Answers to these questions can help technology developers create tools with meaningful translation to clinical practice In this context, there is need for a critical and open discussion among different stakeholders—with different points of view—about the current status and the future of the field. The aim of the workshop was to foster discussion about the role of technology in assessments by bringing together people from different backgrounds These activities aimed at (i) taking a critical look at current approaches to sensorimotor assessments in neurorehabilitation; and (ii) trying to reach an integrated view of potential avenues for research that can lead to clinically meaningful and translatable results. We report an initial analysis of the survey responses to initiate a deeper discussion regarding this topic; we further provide the raw responses (Additional file 1 - Responses) for future detailed analyses
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