Patient Education in Orthopedics: the Role of Information Design and User Experience

Exploring user experience (UX) research methods in health professions education

OUR ISSUE

Researchers often design interventions or experiences to meet the needs of a specific user. However, the user's perspective is often excluded in the process, which can minimize effectiveness due to a lack of understanding about the user, their perspective, and/or their needs. User experience (UX) research methods offer an opportunity to capture additional information about the user that can inform the design of these solutions.

METHODOLOGICAL LITERATURE REVIEW

UX research became prominent during the 1990s to describe the complexity of human interactions with technological solutions. UX research methods emerged in other disciplines as strategies for describing user perspectives, needs, challenges, and potential impact of proposed solutions-these may be useful in health professions education research.

OUR RECOMMENDATIONS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS

Those interested in UX research methods should define the user, establish focused research questions, and select applicable strategies cognizant of time and resource constraints. UX research often requires a clear outline of research activities, how they address the questions, and techniques to engage representative users for data collection. Researchers can optimize data collection by creating inclusive spaces that emphasize active listening. Researchers should compile insights regularly and remember UX research emphasizes an iterative approach to design.

POTENTIAL IMPACT

UX research can support deeper insights into users, their perspectives, their needs, and offers opportunities to co-construct solutions with their experiences in mind. These methods may help educators design impactful experiences that better achieve targeted outcomes in collaboration with their users (e.g., learners, faculty, teams).

Effect of exercise and/or educational interventions on physical activity and pain in patients with hip/knee osteoarthritis: A systematic review with meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the effectiveness of exercise and/or educational intervention on physical activity and pain in patients with hip/knee osteoarthritis (OA) using systematic review and meta-analysis.

METHODS

We searched randomized controlled trials that investigated physical activity and pain and compared exercise and/or educational intervention with usual care in patients with hip/knee OA in MEDLINE (PubMed), ProQuest, Scopus, and the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), including all those published by April 30, 2022 and written in English. Studies that newly applied analgesics after onset of the intervention were excluded. The revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials was used to assess the methodological qualities. The random-effects model was used for meta-analysis with standard mean differences using RevMan version 5.4. The body of evidence for each study was synthesized using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.

RESULTS

Twenty studies including 2,350 patients were included (7 exercise studies, 8 educational intervention studies and 5 combination studies). The meta-analysis demonstrated that there is very low evidence that combination therapy of exercise and educational intervention improve the physical activity level at the endpoint (4 articles; SMD 0.33, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.51, P = 0.03). Low evidence was observed for combination therapy reducing pain (4 articles; SMD -0.15, 95% CI -0.29 to -0.02, P = 0.03).

DISCUSSION

The current evidence indicated that combination therapy of exercise and educational intervention leads to improved physical activity and pain reduction in hip/knee OA patients, but the risk of bias in each study, especially in allocation concealment, downgraded the evidence level. These findings support the use of a combination therapy of exercise and educational intervention to promote physical activity levels in patients with hip/knee OA.

TRAIL REGISTRATION

There was no financial support for this research. The protocol was registered at the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (registration code: CRD42020205804).

Innovation in Orthopedics: Part 1-Design Thinking

Purpose of Review

This narrative will focus on the adoption of design thinking to improve patient-centered care innovation in Orthopedics.

Recent Findings

The literature reveals a complete set of applications of the design thinking approach in the different stages of the patient experience throughout the health context; however, the papers identified focus on specific parts of the process, and there is no systemic analysis about the different aspects involved in each stage of the complete experience. This review presents a holistic analysis concerning the application of design thinking to the distinct phases of innovation development in orthopedics, from the identification of the specific initial challenges up to the introduction of technology-based artifacts, such as innovations in the musculoskeletal health market.

Summary

Systematic description of design thinking application to orthopedics, including concepts, methods, tools, and implementation examples in the most relevant phases of the patient experience—clinical treatment, perioperative care, and rehabilitation.