The Effects On Patient Therapy Times Following The Implementation Of Robotics Therapy In An Inpatient Neurological Rehabilitation Ward

Sam Smith

University of Canberra Hospital, Australia

Biography :

Sam Smith, is a Senior Rehabili­tation Physiotherapist at the Uni­versity of Canberra Hospital in Canberra, Australia with 6 years experience working in inpatient rehabilitation and 4 years ex­perience working in profession­al sport. He is a graduate of the Bachelor of Physiotherapy pro­gram at the University of Canber­ra and is currently completing his Master of Sports Medicine at the University of Melbourne.

Abstract :

Background: The Hocoma Lokomat is an electromechan­ical-assisted exoskeleton robotics device designed for in­tensive walking practice for patients with neurological con­ditions. It was installed at University of Canberra Hospital inpatient neurological rehabilitation ward in 2024. Lokomat robotics therapy requires two staff members to run each ses­sion whereas the inpatient neurological rehabilitation ward has typically used a semi-supervised structure for conven­tional gym-based physiotherapy.

Aim: To determine what effects the implementation of robot­ics therapy has on overall patient therapy time on an inpa­tient neurological rehabilitation ward.

Methods: Patient therapy times were tracked during pre-in­tervention and post-intervention blocks each consisting of 13 weeks. The pre-intervention period consisted of conventional gym-based physiotherapy only. The post-intervention period included the time spent completing both conventional gym-based physiotherapy and robotics therapy.

Results: There was a decrease in therapy time provided to patients following the implementation of robotics ther­apy. There was a reduction in therapy time provided per staff member between the pre-intervention period and the post-intervention period of 55 minutes per day (415 minutes vs 360 minutes), while 0.86 less patients were seen in the post-intervention period per staff member per day (5.12 vs 4.26).

Conclusions: When implementing new technology such as robotics therapy that requires a different staffing structure, appropriate staffing levels are required to ensure it does not adversely affect the therapy time for other patients on the ward. If there is no change in staffing structure, a reduction in patient therapy time can be expected.