Mechanical engineers and paediatricians are working together to develop a 'virtual' team to bring an innovative treatment program to children with disabilities living in regional and remote areas of Queensland.
The University of Queensland's Mechanical Engineering Department and Brisbane's Royal Children's Hospital have joined forces to develop new uses for the Internet and other computer technology which will reduce the need for long distance travel for some patients.
A pilot study is under way led by Associate Professor David Radcliffe of the Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr Karin Shepherd, of the Royal Children's Hospital Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, and Royal Brisbane Hospital Rehabilitation Engineering Centre director Gilbert Logan.
The study will look at using a range of techniques, including videos and computer graphics, to enable a rehabilitiation team to assess a patient's needs at long-distance.
'Our objective is to develop a means for delivering a rehabilitation service to children in remote locations, using a ?virtual team',' said Dr Radcliffe.
In the pilot study, the team will work on developing custom-made wheelchairs for children.
'Usually, this involves a very physical, interactive session where the child, the physiotherapist, occupational therapist, and the technician who makes the insert are all in a room together trying to assess the needs and abilities of the child,' said Dr Radcliffe.
'Under the pilot program, the child, parents and therapist could be in Cairns, working with a paediatric rehabilitation consultant at the Royal Children's Hospital and an orthotist (technician) at the Royal Brisbane linked only via computer over the Internet.
'Rather than being in one place, face-to-face, the virtual team will be formed through the imaginative use of information technology and telecommunications, combined with state-of-the-art engineering design techniques.'
The project means that children and their families living in other parts of Queensland would not need to travel to Brisbane as often - if at all - or have to wait for the next visit to their region by the Brisbane team.
The $100,000 three-year project has been kick-started by a donation of $20,000 from the Wilson Foundation, through the University of Queensland's Annual Appeal.
Patients from Toowoomba and Nambour will be the first to use the new system, and once perfected it will be used for patients in Cairns and remote areas.
Dr Radcliffe said the concept had the potential to become as important to rural people as the Royal Flying Doctor Service or the School of the Air.
The concept also had potential for use in other areas such as prosthesis design, including the incorporation of mechatronics and artificial intelligence.
Donations to the project can be made by contacting the University's Development Office, telephone 07 3221 8495.
For more information, contact Dr Radcliffe on (07) 3365 3579 or Dr Shepherd on (07) 3253 5400.
