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Biomedical subjects

D C Symington

Publications and source records attributed to D C Symington.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Megatrends in rehabilitation: a Canadian perspective.

In this article, based on a presentation to the New Zealand Rehabilitation Association, the author identifies and discusses seven 'megatrends' which are expected to shape the future of rehabilitation services and the quality of life enjoyed by people with disabilities. They include changes in the demography of disability, the empowerment of disabled people, the policy of integration and the rising cost of health and social-services. Also considered are changes in models of rehabilitation service delivery, the role of assistive technology and the shift from empiricism to applied rehabilitation science.

Canada↗
PubMed1987

Eighteen years' experience with a community-based vocational rehabilitation programme.

Eighteen years' experience in the development of an innovative community-based regional vocational rehabilitation service has been described. The programme continues to develop with the recent introduction of a vocational consulting service offering employee assistive programmes to local employers, and with funding from the Solicitor General's Department to provide vocational assessment and retraining to women in conflict with the law. The success of this programme is due to the co-operative melding of the contributions of the university, the regional rehabilitation centre and broadly based community participation by employers and a variety of agencies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Environmental control systems in chronic care hospitals and nursing homes.

Fifteen severely disabled people residing in institutions were provided with a simple environmental control system which performed five different functions. The disabled people used the equipment an average of ten times a day. Two hours of nursing care by nursing staff would have been required to perform these functions. The cost of the equipment was $1.35 a day. Both the residents and the nursing staff reacted favorably to this innovation. The main benefits which resulted were a heightened sense of independence on the part of the disabled people and a reduction of frustration levels of both the residents and the nursing staff. A considerable savings in nursing care was also achieved.

Attitude↗
PubMed1985

Load bearing and suspension characteristics of airsplint as a temporary prosthesis.

Maximum weight bearing observed, using a static weighing scale, in above-knee amputees wearing an airsplint, with a foot, was 10 kg and in below-knee amputees 11 kg with inflation pressures of 40 mmHg. While airsplints with a foot permitted greater weight bearing before deformation occurred, the increase is judged to be of little clinical advantage. Use of an airsplint without a foot would be more efficient for immediate post-operative dressing and for early ambulation in the parallel bars as it is less cumbersome and not subject to toe drag in the swing phase of gait. With the type of airsplints studied inflation pressures above 45 mmHg offered no advantage in terms of weight bearing in the below-knee amputee. In the above-knee amputee similarly, inflation pressures over 40 mmHg offered no advantage and had the effect of reducing the suspension of the prosthesis on the stump.

Air Pressure↗
PubMed1984

The 33rd John Stanley Coulter memorial lecture. The goals of rehabilitation.

The present system of service provision to people with disability is very complex, fragmented, and costly. The large number of disabilities receiving separate consideration contributes to the complexity and cost. Major costs to society associated with disability are institutional care and income support programs. An action plan is proposed based upon two national goals--reduction in the need for institutional care by 30% and reduction in the level of unemployment among employable disabled people to the national average by 1990. Basic considerations for implementing an action plan are outlined, including the need for morbidity indices to measure progress towards goal attainment.

Canada↗
PubMed1979

The pedynograph: a clinical tool for force measurement and gait analysis in lower extremity amputees.

The pedynograph is a simple, inexpensive piece of equipment which can be used in the clinical setting to monitor amputee gait. Strain gauges applied to the pylon of a modular prosthesis and incorporated in an appropriate electrical circuit provide measurements of axial load which are displayed on an oscilloscope during ambulation. Preliminary experience with the described equipment has shown that it is of value in monitoring and regulating weight bearing in patients with healing or maturing stumps or impairment of stump sensation. Gait and prosthetic problems can be analyzed, their correction documented and a permanent record of amputee performance provided.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Semi-flexible sockets for amputation below the knee.

A semi-flexible socket fitted to a series of 47 consecutive below-knee amputees is evaluated, and the problems in assessing prosthetic components and appropriate methodology are discussed. The results suggest that this type of socket deserves wider use and further evaluation in active amputees, where comfort, perspiration control or the condition of the skin is interfering with the patient's function.

Amputation, Surgical↗
PubMed1971

Return to work after myocardial infarction.

One hundred and twelve patients who were 64 years of age or younger and who were employed at the time of their first myocardial infarction were studied to determine the vocational end-result following myocardial infarction. Ninety-seven patients were available for followup: 70 had resumed previous employment, nine were in physically less demanding work, seven were working part-time and 11 were unemployed. Four of the last group had adequate grounds for retirement, but seven were unemployed without adequate medical reasons. Poor medical advice and readily obtainable disability pensions appear to be the major factors responsible for unnecessary unemployment. It is apparent that expert cardiac evaluation followed by vocational assessment and assistance is required before classifying any patient as permanently unemployable.

Aged↗