London, United Kingdom 2013 Poster Session Blue Cerebrovasc Dis 2013; 35 (suppl 3)1-854 787 834 Rehabilitation and reorganisation after stroke Development and use of a ‘do it yourself’ exercise-guide and an exercise-app for stroke pa-tients J.M.A Visser-Meily1, J van Keulen2, R Maathuis3, B Visser-De Heus4, R Faber5, A Willems6 University Medical Center Utrecht and De Hoogstraat, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neurosci-ence and Center of Excellence for Rehabilitation Medicine, Utrecht, THE NETHERLANDS1, University Medical Center Utrecht and De Hoogstraat, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience and Center of Excellence for Rehabilitation Medicine, Utrecht, THE NETHERLANDS2, University Medical Center Utrecht and De Hoogstraat, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience and Center of Excellence for Rehabilitation Medicine, Utrecht, THE NETHERLANDS3, University Medical Cen-ter Utrecht and De Hoogstraat, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience and Center of Excellence for Rehabilitation Medicine, Utrecht, THE NETHERLANDS4, University Medical Center Utrecht and De Hoogstraat, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience and Center of Excellence for Reha-bilitation Medicine, Utrecht, THE NETHERLANDS5, University Medical Center Utrecht and De Hoogstraat, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience and Center of Excellence for Rehabilitation Medicine, Utrecht, THE NETHERLANDS6 Background International observational studies reveal that stroke patients are inactive. The object of our study was to increase the intensity of exercise for stroke patients from day 1 by developing and imple-menting a exercise-guide and an exercise app useful in different facilities, hospitals, rehabilitation centers and nursing homes. Methods: In March 2010, the content and lay-out of the self-exercise guide were defined in meetings with pro-fessionals of seven facilities (hospitals, rehabilitation centers and nursing homes) and patients of the Dutch stroke patients-association. Based upon the results of both meetings, a first draft of the exer-cise- guide was developed and implemented in the seven facilities. Before and after implementation 186 therapists and nurses of the 7 facilities filled out a questionnaire to evaluate the usefulness of the exercise guide in clinical practice. Results: Based on the preferences of patients and professionals two versions of a full color, attractive paper tool were made: a ready-to-use version and a version that can be customized by selecting the exer-cises to the individual needs. The exercises were developed by physical and occupational therapists, were all simple to perform in bed or while sitting in a chair, and divided into levels of complexity. The results of the questionnaires revealed that the percentage of nurses and therapists with the opin-ion that that patients are sufficiently stimulated to exercise without therapist increased from 20 to 39%. More than 10.000 guides have been sold between 2010 and 2012 in the Netherlands. Conclusions: The implementation results show that the ‘do it yourself guide’ is a low cost tool that makes it possi-ble to intensify rehabilitation treatment without the need of extra personnel. The guide is translated in English (figure) and is now further developed in an exercise-app. To motivate the patient to keep on exercising different elements are introduced such as setting goals and winning compliments.
Karger_ESC London_2013
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