Do Your Chores! How Laundry (and IADL's) Drive Innovation at Barrett Medical
What do sorting, stains, and shrinking clothes have in common? Well of course – they’re all part of Barrett Medical’s “Laundry Loader” game on Burt – Barrett's Upper Extremity Robotic Trainer!
Certainly, they’re the parts of doing laundry no one enjoys, but these activities are just a few of 400 individual commands that a user can perform in the “Laundry Loader” game. Players can sort clothes into piles, select soap and detergent values, and even remove the lint from the dryer!
Though these activities seem simple, they’re some of the ways that Barrett is pushing the future of Occupational Therapy by integrating Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL’s) into the games available on Burt. ADL’s focus on more basic self care tasks like hygiene, dressing, and eating, but IADL’s take those activities a step further, advancing to higher levels of cognitive thinking and planning. Incorporating these activities into a patient's regiment can result in more effective rehabilitation and safer patient interaction.
Real Objects → Real Learning
There are countless devices on the market to improve Occupational Therapy, none of them involve integrated gaming systems into the patient experience. In Burt patients directly manipulate the device to play a game on a display in front of them – and it still takes just seconds to set up! Laundry Loader is one example of Barrett’s games, and it uses classic Occupational Therapy approaches to ensure patient success is maximized.
First – OT has been proven more effective when patients interact with real objects, rather than blocks or toys.
For example, a lifting block shaped to look like a water cup would be far better than a wooden rectangle – and, of course, a real water cup would be even better than that!
When doing these activities, the brain makes connections between the physical action (picking up a block) and the subject matter (picking up a glass of water), and it can rebuild these connections faster when the activities are paired. In Stroke or TBI patients, this neuroplasticity is the foundation for patient recovery, as it encourages the brain to rebuild connections and recovery mobility.
Patient Safety = Therapist Safety
Every therapist can name an example of how they hurt their back or their arms helping a patient from an awkward position. Burt completely eliminates this risk for both patient and therapist.
With backdrivability embedded in the motors of the machine, the patient can’t be at risk, and, while the patient conducts the activity, the therapist can step back – no more leaning over tables and twisting your back!
Here’s three ways that Laundry Loader champions patient safety while improving patient outcomes:
Tracks patient progress - success scores are available after a session
Available at a variety of difficulty levels - more challenging levels can be unlocked
Individually tailored to assist or resist a patient - matches the patient’s improving strength
We know that each patient’s abilities and experience is different, and Burt is tailored to meet those needs. This way, you, as a therapist, don't need to personally simulate increased resistance or measure progress, and all variables are accounted for in our scoring system.
Tracking patient safety and progress has never been easier – Demo a Burt model near you to see it in action, or check out our video page to learn more!