Developing an Evidence-based Clinical Decision-support System to Assist Amputee Care Providers to Enhance Prosthetic Prescription and Amputee Rehabilitation
Open Access
Author:
Saravanan, Pratima
Graduate Program:
Industrial Engineering
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
August 20, 2021
Committee Members:
John Challis, Outside Unit & Field Member Andris Freivalds, Major Field Member & Dissertation Advisor Chris McComb, Major Field Member Jessica Menold, Chair & Dissertation Advisor Steven Landry, Program Head/Chair
With the rapid increase in the global amputee population, there is a clear need to assist amputee care providers with their decision-making during the prosthetic prescription process. To achieve this, an evidence-based decision support system that encompasses existing literature, current decision-making strategies employed by amputee care providers, and patient-specific factors is proposed. Based on an extensive literature review combined with natural language processing and expert survey, the factors influencing the current decision-making of amputee care providers in prosthetic prescription were identified. Following that, the decision-making strategies employed by expert and novice prosthetists were captured and analyzed. Finally, a fundamental understanding of the effect gait analysis has on the decision-making strategies of prosthetists was studied. Findings from this work lay the foundation for developing a real-time decision support system integrated with a portable gait analysis tool to enhance prescription processes. This is critical in the Global South, where there is a scarcity of amputee care providers and resources for an appropriate prescription.