Paper (Talk)

With many medical procedures done today, patients are forced to act as passive recipients of care, while nurses and doctors are actively involved in the process of diagnosis or treatment. In this paper, we focus upon patient positioning for radiotherapy treatment, looking at the immobilization and positioning techniques used, and the role of the patient in this process. Our desire to engage patients in the positioning process led to the creation of an experimental positioning system which can enable patients to self-position themselves for treatment. Utilizing the body tracking and skeletal data capabilities of a Kinect™ sensor, our prototype provides visualizations of where an individual’s body is in relation to the desired position, and when these two positions have become correctly aligned. Testing demonstrated how our prototype could be used to actively engage patients in the positioning process together with care providers, in a mutually empowering and supportive way.