Improving outcome assessment following lower limb surgery V4.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Multimodal Ecological Momentary Computerised Adaptive Testing to monitor recovery after lower limb surgery
IRAS ID
346932
Contact name
Shehan Hettiaratchy
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) are questionnaires that measure aspects of health that are relevant to patients, such as limb function. PROMs are used to monitor a person’s health and can be used to compare the effectiveness of treatments.
Questionnaires can take a long time to complete and may include questions that are not relevant for all patients. For example, if we know a patient cannot walk 100 meters, we do not need to ask if they can walk a mile. We have made a smartphone app that makes validated questionnaires shorter and more personalised. We have previously shown that our app makes questionnaires easier to complete for patients that have had a hand operation.
We want to see whether our app can be used in patients who have had an operation on their leg. We will recruit patients who are undergoing different types of operations, including hip replacements, knee replacements and any surgery for traumatic leg injuries. Patients will use the app for three months following their operation. We will ask them to complete a questionnaire looking at their leg function and will compare their responses with their daily step count (measured using data routinely collected on participant’s own smartphone devices). This will enable us to assess patient recovery and ensure that the app is detecting any changes.
We want to see whether patients like using the app and we will interview them about their experience. We also want to see whether the app can be used to follow patients up remotely after an operation. This may avoid patients coming into hospital for routine outpatient appointments in the future. To do this, we will ask surgeons whether they noticed any issues during routine follow up appointments, and we will see whether this was detected in the app.
REC name
South Central - Berkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/SC/0097
Date of REC Opinion
31 Mar 2026
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion