Determining the Stability of Mobile Aids

In the spring of 2000, the BC Children's Hospital Foundation Telethon funded many projects designed with the goals of improving care and the quality of life for children. One such project was "Determine the Stability of Mobility Aids". 
The purpose of this project is to increase the safety of the wheelchairs modified at Sunny Hill by developing a device that will objectively measure and record the centre of gravity of an occupied wheelchair. This information will be used clinically to increase wheelchair safety by helping with design choices during set-up and in educating the wheelchair user and caregivers following delivery. 
The design uses clinically proven two-dimensional pressure pad technology to obtain the centre of gravity of the wheelchair system. The wheelchair is placed on the pressure pad that is located on an angle adjustable platform and the centre of pressure in two dimensions is calculated. The angle of the platform is then changed and the centre of pressure for the wheelchair is calculated again from the pressure pad. Using geometry, the intersection of the two normal centres of pressures is calculated. The co-ordinate of this intersection is the centre of gravity for the wheelchair. The entire process will be computer driven, initiated with the click of a single mouse button and be completed in less than 5 minutes. It is expected that the final system will be portable and can be brought to outreach locations throughout the province. 
The projected completion date is August 2002. 
Personnel 
Primary Investigator: Andrew Brule 
For additional information:Andrew Brule 

The Perceived Usefulness of a Clinical Evidence Finder for Speech-Language Pathologists Presented as a poster at the Searching for Excellence: 2003 Biennial Search Conference, Edmonton, Alberta, June 5-6, 2003 and published in the proceedings

• TeleCDR
• The British Columbia Tele-Child Development and Rehabilitation (TeleCDR) Network Presented as a poster at the Child Health 2003 Conference in Vancouver, Canada on March 3, 2003 and published in the proceedings.
• Delivery of Feeding Services Using the British Columbia Tele-Child Development and Rehabilitation (TeleCDR) Network. Presented as a poster at the International Conference on Cerebral Palsy in Quebec City, Canada, April 30th, 2003 and published in the proceedings.

• North American Growth in Cerebral Palsy Study
  
• Sunny Hill Anthropometric Evaluation System
  
• Growth Charts for Assessing and Monitoring Growth in Canadian Infants and Children (Canadian collaborative 2004 statement and fact shees for health professionals and parents)
  

Postural control

• Development of the Seated Postural Control Measure (SPCM)
• Item Analysis of the Seated Postural Control Measure Presented as a poster at the International Conference on Cerebral Palsy in Quebec City, Canada, April 30, 2003 and published in the proceedings.
• Effect of postural support on upper limb function Presented as a poster at the International Conference on Cerebral Palsy in Quebec City, Canada, April 30, 2003 and published in the proceedings.
• Recovery of postural control following brain injury

Acupuncture Study

Barefoot vs. Orthosis: Is there an order effect on gait analysis? Presented as a poster at the Gait and Clinical Movement Analysis Society in Wilmington, Delaware held on May 7-10, 2003 and published in the proceedings. Spasticity Management

Development of a Nutrition Screening Checklist (Article | Checklist)

Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Pediatrics: focus on Herbal Products and Nutritional

Seating Simulator for Remote Assessment

In the spring of 2000, the BC Children's Hospital Foundation Telethon funded many projects designed with the goals of improving care and the quality of life for children.

One funded project is "Seating Simulator for Remote Assessment". The goals of this project are to increase the accessibility of children and families throughout the province to custom wheelchair seating services, and to provide outreach seating services more efficiently. In operation, the project calls on two technologies; a multi-adjustable wheelchair assessment seat and telehealth. 

The seating simulator is designed for use by therapists throughout the province. It is adjustable to accommodate a variety of children and to provide a range of possible seated positions for each child. The therapist can monitor the seated posture for suitability and then measure the child for a custom wheelchair seating system. 

Remote data collection saves time for the child, family and seating team when they meet at an outreach seating clinic by facilitating preparation of seating systems ahead of time, and the measure of effectiveness for this project is the amount of time saved. 

Video teleconferencing ensures the support of Sunny Hill's seating team for the local therapist's assessment, providing real-time participation in the assessment and a video record of the process. 

Development and construction of the simulator continued through 2002. In the spring of 2003 a prototype was completed and it is being assessed at Sunny Hill initially for effectiveness as the supporting documentation for the seating simulator's remote use is prepared.

Personnel
Primary Investigator: Dave Cooper
Co-Investigator: David Jordan 
For additional information: David Jordan

The British Columbia Tele-Child Development and Rehabilitation (TeleCDR) Network

Objective: To increase opportunities for professional and client education, clinical consultation and joint planning through the establishment of a Tele-CDR Network in British Columbia as a collaboratively defined program of activities. 

Project Description: The Tele-CDR network was established in 2002 as part of a federal grant known as Canadian Health Infostructure Partnership Program (CHIPP). The grant enabled videoconferencing capability (through the installation of videoconferencing equipment and wiring) between Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children and 8 CDR community agencies within British Columbia. 

Methods: During the first year of the program (May 2002 - April 2003) applications were developed based on community needs and tertiary delivery capacity in the areas of specialized clinical services, education and joint planning. Clinical service included pre- and post-assessment activities related to acute rehabilitation, seating and mobility, augmentative communication and complex feeding. 

Education applications included discipline-specific, interdisciplinary and family topics. Sessions were provided by Sunny Hill staff based on community needs assessment. Education was provided in two ways: TeleCDR rounds and Ad Hoc. TeleCDR rounds were set up to allow community professionals to attend monthly scheduled one hour sessions. Ad Hoc sessions were arranged in response to community requests. Joint planning sessions involved project development and professional networking. 

Results: During the implementation year of the project 59 TeleCDR sessions were conducted (30 education, 23 clinical, and 6 joint planning) through a total of 186 network connections, reaching over 1100 participants.Education evaluation feedback indicated 67% of respondents scored a 4 or 5 on a Likert Scale to indicate their knowledge of the education topic had increased. Of these respondents 66% also scored a 4 or 5 (Likert) to indicate they would not obtain this information without telehealth. The number of sites connected per delivered session ranged from 1-19 with an average of 5 connections per session. 

About TeleCDR

What can Tele-CDR be used for? 

To Provide:

• Clinical services (eg.follow up, pre-assessment, visual info)
• Education Sessions (eg.TeleCDR rounds, training sessions for professionals, guest speakers, equipment manufacturers)
• Administrative meetings (eg. professional networking, cross site meetings)

To Receive:

• Education training (training from around the world)
• Administrative meetings (professional provincial mtgs)

What is the cost? 

• Cost varies depending on length of session and the number of sites that are connecting

Presently, TeleCDR charges not covered by C&W:

• SH staff receiving education outside of C&W
• SH staff providing education sessions longer than 2 hours

Who can I connect to?

Connections can be:

• Point to point (Sunny Hill + 1 site)
• Multi Point (Sunny Hill + > 1 site)

We have 12 sites that we invite regularly to our multi-site sessions. These are our TeleCDR partners. There are many more sites throughout the province that we are able to connect to.

How do I provide info via TeleCDR?

• Talk to SH TeleCDR coordinator (Althea Lopena)
• Provide SH TeleCDR coordinator with specifics (session content, length, audience etc)

Prior to session:

• Provide SH TeleCDR coordinator with handouts
• Discuss equipment needs with TeleCDR Technical Support (David Jordan)

How do I receive info via TH?

• Talk to Sunny Hill TeleCDR coordinator (Althea Lopena)

If receiving education outside of C&W apply to department head as per usual education process.

For more information contact Althea Lopena and visit our Tele-CDR page under Learning and Development