Development of an evidence-based outcome measure for hand burn injuries using co-design
Andrea Mc Kittrick1, Louise Gustafsson2, Tenelle Hodson 2, Amelia Di Tommaso2, 1Royal Brisbane And Women’s Hospital, Herston, QLD, Australia 2Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia
Abstract
Introduction
Outcome measures are used to evaluate endpoints in health care delivery (Hutchinson and Fowler, 1992). Few outcome measures used with hand burn injuries are validated for this population (Mc Kittrick et al., 2021). The impairment-based measures often used by clinicians (Mc Kittrick and Gustafsson, 2022) are not aligned with consumer perspective of outcomes through everyday activities across the recovery period (Mc Kittrick et al., 2023). The aim of this study was to develop an evidence based, person-centred outcome measure for severe hand burn injuries using co-design.
Methods
This study used co-design with a Participatory Action Research approach (Baum et al., 2006). Co-researchers included burn clinicians and burn consumers who were recruited via professional and burn survivor networks around Australia and New Zealand. This process involved two reflection cycles: idea generation and idea refinement with intentional power sharing. Virtual meetings were used to enable participation around Australia and New Zealand.
Results and Conclusion
The co-researchers met on four occasions, each virtual meeting lasted 90 minutes, to identify constructs and activities for inclusion in the outcome measure. Patterns of hand movement including pinch and grip grasps required for each activity were discussed, and consideration was given to the practicality of testing these activities in each setting. The proposed outcome measure contained 18 activities which could be used across all stages of recovery. The outcome measure contained both clinician and patient rating scales. Further testing is required to determine the clinical utility, content, and face validity of the new outcome measure.
Biography
Andrea Mc Kittrick is the Advanced Specialist Occupational Therapist in Severe Burn Injuries at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. Andrea’s PhD through Griffith University focuses on hand burn outcomes. She is the current chair of the ANZBA Allied Health committee and the International Society of Burn Injury (ISBI) Rehabilitation Committee. She is a casual academic at The University of Queensland and a session lecturer at Australian Catholic University. She is passionate about collaborating to improve long term outcomes post burn injury.