ABSTRACT
Most people who have had a stroke require ongoing rehabilitation after they are discharged from hospital. The result is a high demand on limited therapy resources. Twelve months post-stroke, 85% of patients do not receive any therapy. A tele-monitoring system for stroke rehabilitation could reduce the need for hospitalisation and extend the period of supervised therapy, by enabling people to rehabilitate in their own homes. The relationships between the human and technology components of such a system are very important. The usability of the software interfaces is critical to the success of the system, perhaps as important as the system’s clinical effectiveness. This paper summarises the development of a tele-monitoring system for upper limb stroke rehabilitation, the associated interface usability issues and potential areas of future development.
