Title: Quality Assurance Practices in Clinical Gait Analysis
Instructors: Eric Dugan, PhD; Amy Barbuto, PT, DPT, PCS; Jason Long, PhD; Alison Hanson, PT, MSPT, OCS
Purpose: The purpose of this course is to discuss quality assurance practices currently utilized by three different accredited motion analysis laboratories for clinical gait analysis.
Intended audience: All personnel who are involved in data collection, data processing, data interpretation, and/or treatment decision making as part of clinical gait analysis. This includes, but is not limited to, biomechanists, kinesiologists, engineers, physical therapists, technicians, and physicians.
Prerequisite knowledge: Participants should have the basic knowledge and familiarity of the clinical gait analysis process.
Outline of tutorial content:
In order to achieve the purpose of the tutorial, personnel from three accredited motion analysis laboratories will present on selected topics related to quality assurance practices. The first group will discuss how competencies for motion lab personnel are established, including biomechanists, physical therapists, technicians, and physicians. The second group will discuss reliability processes for marker placement, physical exam measures, and data processing. The third group will discuss processes for validation and determining reliability of technical systems, including cameras, force plates, and EMG.
- Introduction (5-minutes): Eric Dugan
- Establishing competency for motion lab personnel (20-minutes): Amy Barbuto, Eric Dugan
- Marker placement, physical exam, and data processing reliability (20-minutes): Alison Hanson
- Technical system validation & reliability (20-minutes): Jason Long
- Question & Answer Discussion (25-minutes)
At the completion of this course, participants should be able to:
- Understand core competency areas critical to motion lab personnel working in clinical gait analysis.
- Discuss best practices for determining reliability for marker placement, physical exam measures, and data processing for clinical gait analysis.
- Understand how technical systems are validated and reliability established for use in clinical gait analysis.