Physical reconditioning in the home environment of patients with the help of a webbased exercise program.

To meet the increasing demand for care, it is important that efficient and effective forms of treatment be developed and implemented, such as telemedicine services. In particular for the growing group of chronically ill for whom rehabilitation is an important part of treatment, much is expected of these new services. An example of such innovative telemedicine service for the rehabilitation of the chronically ill, is a treatment module "physical reconditioning at home remotely guided by a therapist. This is a web-based training program that offers patients the opportunity to train in their home, thereby remotely supervised by a health care professional. The aim is to support patients in their physical reconditioning, both specific functions such as the arm or hand as of the entire physical condition, and patient coaching to restore and maintain their physical function integrated into daily life with resulting optimal integration and participation. The goal of this project is to effectively implement this webbased exercise program in 3 rehabilitation centers in 5 groups treating about 100 patients in total. This will be evaluated in terms of compliance, satisfaction of both healthcare professionals and patients and health status.

By using a webbased exercise program, patients will be more responsible for their treatment outcome which will positively influence treatment outcomes.

Compliance is logged automatically on the computer.

Patient satisfaction is measured with a questionnaire at the end of the intervention.

Health status is measured with the SF36 questionnaire at the start of the regular treatment and at the end of the intervention.

A webbased exercise program is implemented in 3 rehabilitation centres in the Netherlands. This exercise program consists of three modules:

1. A webportal with exercise movies;

2. Monitoring of treatment progress;

3. Teleconsultation and telecommunication.

Patients are instructed by their physiotherapist to exercise at home. The physiotherapist makes a schedule for his patient. The patient and therapist can communicate with each other via the webportal. patients start their treatment with a regular treatment program. In the last weeks of this program, their intervention will start. The intervention will take 3 months and patients exercise with the portal for 2-3 times a week for 15-30 minutes, dependent on the diagnosis group.



The control group is a historic one or patients not having a computer at home, receiving their regular treatment.