Equipment Evaluation Case Study

Background

As second year DPT students, we learned about equipment evaluations and many of the components that go along with them. However, I never felt like I had a good understanding of what the entire process looked like or what the most important components  were. I was able to observe several equipment evals during my outpatient pediatric rotation and felt much more prepared to be part of one in the future. This year, I had a conversation with an outpatient orthopedic physical therapist about how unprepared she felt to complete an equipment evaluation following her entry level education, leading me to the idea for this project. I wanted to assist current physical therapy students with understanding what a full equipment eval looks like in practice. I also wanted to further clarify the role of an equipment vendor, so we are prepared to work with them. This project gives us the benefit of mentorship from an experienced physical therapist and equipment vendor as well as hearing the family perspective. Hopefully, this can be a resource that helps future DPT students with their confidence in future equipment evaluation experiences.

Statement of Need

The Class of 2023 Neuro courses happened while we were still in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, so we were unable to do vendor visits and instead looked at equipment over Zoom. Obviously, this was a different class experience than the majority of students in PHYT 784 and 785, so I performed a needs assessment of the current second year students. In addition to surveying which format would be most beneficial for this capstone project, I assessed student satisfaction with the current materials available for equipment evaluations. A majority of students said the most beneficial project format would be a video of equipment evaluation components combined with interviews from the PT, vendor, and patient’s family. Additionally, some students thought having a document with written interviews would be helpful, so I chose to transcribe the interviews to be available in multiple formats based on student preference. When asking for additional commentary, an overall theme of the feedback was that students were given information on several components of equipment evaluations but did not have a good understanding of the process as a whole. They wanted more information about what the timing is like, how often to follow-up with insurance, and what it is like to work with an equipment vendor. This project addresses all of these needs through targeted interview questions and a real patient case study.

Purpose

The purpose of this Capstone is to create a resource for second-year DPT students to supplement the additional lecture materials they receive on equipment evaluation. The exact timing of implementation is still up in the air at this point, but the plan is that it could be incorporated at some point during the PHYT 784 or 785 curriculum. It could potentially fit into the equipment evaluation or letter of medical necessity portions of the course. It could be used during class time, but at the very least, this video/document can be supplementary materials for students during the course.

Products

The primary product from this Capstone is the video with a patient case background, equipment evaluation components, and interviews from the PT, vendor, and patient’s family. The PDF document includes the transcribed interviews with some key take-home points and general case information to provide an alternative format. Additionally, the PDF document includes the real quote and LMN from the case study as well as more information on the process of becoming an ATP. The included PowerPoint is the case background that is narrated in the video.

Video: https://uncch.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=4ae540b2-1b0e-4d99-aba9-afe20107937f

Transcribed Interviews with key takeaways, case documents, and information on becoming an ATP: Equipment Evaluation Case Study Interviews

Case Background PowerPoint: Equipment Evaluation Presentation

Evaluation

Although this project will likely be implemented in future courses, I wanted to get the feedback of the UNC DPT class of 2024 because they were the ones who originally guided the format of this project. I sent a link to their class to a survey rating the usefulness and organization of this project. Unfortunately, our deadline was during a very busy time in their semester, so feedback was somewhat limited. I received one response in which the student strongly agreed with all survey answers and found the project to be very helpful.

Here is the link to the evaluation survey for future viewers to complete: https://forms.gle/61E9vFYQYxkoAQ2P7

Self-Reflection

While I do think this project accomplished my original goals, it was logistically challenging. The first hurdle was finding a patient who was willing and available to participate in this project. For the first several months, I was primarily focused on project planning and coordination. Luckily, I was able to get connected with Dr. Cathy Howes who had a patient who was available and willing to participate with this project. Since I live out of state, we ran into additional challenges with scheduling and ability to film. Originally, I planned to complete interviews via Zoom, however, my mentor (Vicki) and I decided that it would be important to include clips of a real equipment evaluation. I was able to get assistance with filming, so I could still get the video footage that I needed. In addition to the logistic challenges, I have limited experience with video editing. I practiced with VoiceThread and Panopto prior to filming to make sure that I felt confident in my ability to put together the final product. I definitely pushed myself out of my comfort zone but was able to have relatively good success with putting the video together. There are some areas that are not cut as smoothly as I would like, but I think overall it accomplishes the project goals. The video also fits the format that was most requested by the class of 2024. This project helped me to develop some key take home points from the interviews on how to perform a successful equipment evaluation. Overall, I put a lot of time and effort into this project and am happy with how it turned out. Hopefully future classes will find it useful for better understanding equipment evaluations.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to Dr. Vicki Mercer, PT, PhD for being my Capstone Advisor. I appreciate your continual guidance on how to make sure this project met my vision and was a success.

To Dr. Cathy Howes, PT, DPT, MS, thank you so much for all of your help organizing this equipment evaluation and participating in the interview. This project would not have been possible without your flexibility and assistance.

To Knox Campbell, OTR/L, MSOT, ATP, thank you for being a part of this project and giving your perspective on the PT-vendor relationship.

To Maddie, Margarita, and family, thank you so much for being willing to share personal details of your story to assist future students with our DPT education. Without your participation, this project would not have been possible.

To Cate Bitzer, PT, DPT; Sharon Kemps, PT, DPT, ATP, NCS; Karen McCulloch, PT, PhD, FAPTA, FACSM; thank you all for being a part of my Capstone Committee. You each brought a unique perspective to this project and gave me great advice on additional information to include in my materials.

To Sonia Kelkar, SPT, a special thanks for your assistance with filming the equipment evaluation due to our scheduling conflicts.

To the UNC DPT Class of 2024, thank you for your input on this project idea and evaluation of the final result.

References

1. Polymicrogyria – about the disease. Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center. https://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/diseases/12271/polymicrogyria. Accessed April 4, 2023.
2. Community Alternatives Program for Children (CAP/C). NC Medicaid Division of Health Benefits . https://medicaid.ncdhhs.gov/capc. Published March 31, 2023. Accessed April 4, 2023.
3. First In Families of North Carolina. Accessed April 10, 2023. https://fifnc.org/
4. Variety – the Children’s Charity. Accessed April 10, 2023. https://variety.org/
5. ATP General info. Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America. https://www.resna.org/Certification/Assistive-Technology-Professional-ATP. Published 2023. Accessed April 16, 2023.