Data-driven Personalization of Physiotherapy Care Pathway: Case Posture Scanning (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Advanced sensor, measurement and analytics technologies enable entirely new ways to deliver care. Increased availability of digital data can be used for data-driven personalization of care. Data-driven personalization can complement expert-driven personalization by providing support for decision making, or even automating some parts of decision making in relation to the care process. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to analyze how digital data acquired from posture scanning can enhance physiotherapy and enable more personalized delivery of physiotherapy. METHODS A Case study is conducted with a company that has designed a Posture Scan Recording System (PSRS), which is an Information System (IS) that can record, measure and report human movement digitally to be used in physiotherapy. Interviews are used to explore the viewpoints of different stakeholders involved in physiotherapy. The data is analyzed thematically. RESULTS As the result of our thematic analysis, we identified three different support types the posture scanning can provide to enable more personalized delivery of physiotherapy. The types are: (1) Modeling the condition, which is about the use of posture scanning data for detecting and understanding the healthcare user’s condition and the root cause of the possible pain. (2) Visualization for a shared understanding, which is about the use of posture scanning data to inform and involve the healthcare user in more collaborative decision-making regarding care. (3) Evaluating the impact of the intervention, which is about the use of posture scanning data to evaluate the care progress and impact of the intervention. CONCLUSIONS Current care models in healthcare emphasize the importance to put the healthcare user at the center of the care. However, physiotherapy has lacked data driven solutions to inform and involve the healthcare user in care in a person-centered manner. The present study analyzes how posture scanning can enhance physiotherapy and presents three different types of support that posture scanning can provide for data-driven personalization of physiotherapy.