“Under the theme of ‘Digital Rehabilitation: The Future of Patient Recovery,’ the ground-breaking workshop organized by the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences under College of Health Sciences (COHES) brought together leading experts to discuss rehabilitation for all, through Digital Innovation and new competencies.  The event’s main objective was to increase the capacity of higher education institutions to support and scale digital transformation in Eastern Africa.

At the top, was need to fact check the digital solutions and innovations used by rehabilitation professionals or self-driven service users as part of the rehabilitation process in East Africa. It was realized that Kenya as one of Eastern Africa countries needed improvement to march European countries that have embraced digital tools.

During the event, Dr Wallace Karuguti a Physiotherapist and a lecturer at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, “the potential of digital rehabilitation is to collect client’s data from their location by monitoring and communicating on any improvements, a significant step to update the rehabilitation process digitally. This could reduce costs and also reduce medics taskforce.”

The application of digital rehabilitation will need technology to evaluate, monitor and improve the patient’s health by use of chatbot, apps/programs, wearables, sensors, gamification and AI to administer treatment.

In a group discussion forum, attendees explored cutting-edge solutions designed to enhance patient outcomes and streamline recovery. Among the suggested solutions was need to change the curriculum of teaching in universities and the use of digital forms to conduct rehabilitation. To reach the community, learners were to practice some of the digital skills as part of their examination. In groups, learners were expected to engage in listening to podcast, watch a recorded experience whereby medics engaged with patients digitally and lastly make a podcast to evaluate their understanding to topics taught.

From a student and teachers’ perspective, ideas were brainstormed to improve the effectiveness of the project to help students, instructors and the community transition smoothly from old forms – reading encyclopedias, making long queues, working tirelessly – to new forms that enhance not only digital space but also improve recuperation.