Proposed Topic (Most preferred): :
Enhancing Partnership with Patients and Community (Projects initiated to engage patients / carers / community to improve efficiency / quality of care)
Proposed Topic (Second preferred): :
HA Young Investigators Session (Projects to be presented by HA staff who had joined HA for 10 years or less)
Authors (including presenting author) :
Wong, KCK(1), Ng DMT(1), Luk MLM(1), Leung CSH(1), Chan KSK (1), Choi CCM(2), Li YC(2), Chan ACM(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Physiotherapy Department, Queen Elizabeth Hospital (2) Yau Ma Tei Jockey Club GOPC, Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Introduction :
Patient’s exercise compliance is one of the factors affecting clinical outcomes such as pain, physical performance and self-perceived effectiveness. With the commencement of HA Go exercise prescription, incorporating video-guided exercise programs with reminders and compliance monitoring functions, holds great potential for enhancing patients' exercise adherence. This study aims to investigate the impact of video-guided exercise programs on improving home exercise compliance amidst challenges such as poor self-efficacy and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Objectives :
To investigate the exercise compliance and patients’ satisfaction of integrating HA Go exercise prescription in physiotherapy practice for patients with chronic musculoskeletal conditions in short-term and long-term in primary health care setting.
Methodology :
Subjects (n=37) from YMTGOPC aged ≥18 years old with chronic musculoskeletal conditions and referred for physiotherapy were recruited from January to November 2023. Participants received conventional physiotherapy treatment and personalized exercise program with HA Go exercise prescription. They were advised to continue their exercise program at home adjunct with video instructions and e-pamphlet at the time of discharge. Data on patients’ exercise compliance and patients’ satisfaction by a 5-point Likert scale (0 = Strongly disagree, 1 = Disagree, 2 = Neutral, 3 = Agree and 4 = Strongly agree) were collected upon discharge and three-month follow-up via telephone.
Result & Outcome :
Exercise adherence:
The result showed that majority (83%) of participants expressed "agree" or "strongly agree" with their ability to adhere to the number of exercise prescribed. Additionally, 72.9% of participants reported adhering to the prescribed number of repetitions and adhering to the recommended number of sessions. Overall, 83.8% participants reported "agree" or "strongly agree" that they demonstrated satisfactory adherence to the home exercise program.
The participants reported they continued their home exercise program for 3 months upon discharge and there was no statistical significantly less (p>0.05) when comparing at the time of discharge on number of exercise (p=0.096), number of repetitions (p=0.837) and number of sessions (p=0.394).
Patient satisfaction:
83.8% of patients reported "agree" or "strongly agree" that HA Go exercise prescription was easy to use, indicating a high level of user-friendliness. Furthermore, 86.5% of participants rated "agree" or "strongly agree" that the program was useful, highlighting its effectiveness in enhancing their self-empowerment skills. Additionally, 89.2% of participants expressed overall satisfaction with HA Go exercise prescription.
Conclusion & Way Forward:
Popularity of using smart phones and mobile applications is an inevitable trend. This study revealed that high exercise adherence and positive perception of the program’s enhancing patients' engagement and treatment outcomes in primary health care setting. The consistency of exercise compliance in three-month follow-up suggested that HA Go exercise prescription enhanced patient exercise engagement in long-term. Therefore, the integration of HA Go exercise prescription in clinical practice, with features of timely reminders, exercise corrections, video guidance, convenience and user customization can significantly increase exercise compliance.
With the advancement of technology, HA Go’s function has immense potential to enhance patients’ experience in healthcare settings. Functions such as integrating augmented reality (AR) and real-time monitoring, coupled with visual biofeedback using artificial intelligence (AI), holds the capability to improve exercise correctness and may further optimize treatment outcomes.
