Physical activity is a real medicine for preventing and treating a wide range of diseases, its prescription must have the same precision and accuracy in order to optimize the effects avoiding at the same time clinical risks since patients are often frail.The goal is the networking of ‘basic’ and innovative rehabilitation equipment, even placed in different environments, through the philosophy of the’ Internet of Things (IoT),’is based on the idea of ‘smart’ objects interconnected with each other to exchange the information possessed, collected and/or processed. All this will allow real-time feedback of data and measurements for the development of a personalized digital record. The digital platform, telemedicine, and cloud computing begin to enable an integration of people, equipment and data.
Aims. To evaluate whether an assessment procedure with digital Assessment Manager® (AM) support, can optimize the execution and writing time of the physiotherapy assessment.
Materials and Methods. We evaluated 751 patients admitted to the Cardiology Rehabilitation Unit using a Tablet with AM® software exclusively from the following integrated care pathways: Chronic Heart Failure, Acute Coronary Syndrome and Post Cardiac Surgery Syndrome.
Discussion on the use of Assessment Manager. In the hospital setting, patient assessment is a crucial moment, and in this context AM® is a tool that allows the easy collection of a series of assessment data through questionnaires, tests, and validated clinical scales, and the instant compilation of a complete physiotherapy assessment. The other key aspect is that the system sends all data and findings in real time to the Health Information System called Galileo for immediate consultation accessible to all ward staff. This facilitates communication in the hospital environment, helping to reduce errors and reporting times.
Results Among the practical considerations, analysing the timing of the ‘standard ‘ CRP evaluation and comparing 20 patients divided into two groups (group evaluated with AM and group evaluated with paper), a time saving assessable around 30% is noted, but what is the added value is the standardisation of the evaluation procedures, as tools that make the performance of the activities as objective, systematic and verifiable as possible, especially in cases of high rehabilitation complexity, ultimately a higher ‘quality ‘ of the results, obviously important for scientific research.