Rehabilitation after cardiac surgery : using objective measurements towards patient specific in-hospital mobilisation

Introduction: Early mobilisation has a positive impact on patients after cardiac surgery. Interventions should move towards more patient-specific strategies. Activity levels should be measured objectively. These measurements can be used to implement a physical activity intervention. Understanding the barriers to mobilisation or working with a new intervention is important for development of a successful intervention. Methods: Using two accelerometers movements of patients after cardiac surgery were measured. This data was used to validate and optimise a neural network that can classify activities in six categories. A qualitative interview study was conducted to investigate the current problems around mobilisation and how an accelerometer-based feedback system can be incorporated. Participants were healthcare professionals at TCT. Results: Mobilisation data from patients postoperatively was used to train the neural network. The algorithm reached an overall classification accuracy of 93%. Barriers to mobilisation are patient characteristics and health status, the hospital environment and expectations of hospital stay. Mobilisation data should be presented simple, using graphs and colours. Conclusions: Activities of patients after cardiac surgery can objectively be measured using two accelerometers. Accelerometer-based feedback can help patients gain more insight in their own recovery process, and the mobilisation protocol can be adapted to the patients needs.