Background/Aims: Most rehabilitation-focused clinical trials use a ‘usual care’ control intervention but poorly define the planned and delivered dose. The multi-dimensional dose articulation framework could be used to enable real-time dose data to be captured and improve validity of the control intervention. This study aims to investigate the feasibility of accurate, complete and timely real-time electronic dose data capturing by clinicians delivering usual care upper limb intervention sessions to stroke patients.
Methods: In a tertiary health service, 146 usual care upper limb therapy sessions involving a clinician and patient will be observed across acute and subacute settings. The clinician will complete the electronic record (REDCap), which aligns with the multi-dimensional dose articulation framework, in real-time. Feasibility of a session is measured by achieving three criteria:
Electronic real-time data capturing of usual care dose will be deemed feasible if ≥90% of sessions achieve all criteria.
Results: This study is ongoing. An update of the current study status will be presented at the conference.
Conclusion: A feasible method of real-time electronic capturing of usual care dose will enable trials to accurately capture and compare trial experimental and control interventions. Researchers and health services will understand the potential time burden (if any) when clinicians treat patients on a trial.