Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients require regular rehabilitation exercises to improve and maintain joint range of motion (ROM). Access to therapy may be limited for some patients, community clinics may lack allied health team members, and poor adherence arises from brief in-person instruction with or without written details and reminders given subsequently. 

To address this problem, a multidisciplinary team at Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH) have developed an extensive library of exercise videos to be prescribed by Paediatric Rheumatology Care Providers (PRCPs) as indicated by their individual patients’ needs. Previous work has demonstrated:

1. satisfaction with the video content by PRCPs;
2. patient preference for videos over written handouts; and
3. improved exercise technique accuracy in follow-up encounters with prescription of these videos. 

To date, there has been a significant barrier to dissemination of the video library to PRCPs outside MCH in a secure manner to spread the proven benefits.

Now, a non-randomized, prospective quality improvement project is using UCAN CAN-DU’s eHealth platform, housed at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, to prescribe ROM exercise videos to patients with Rheumatological diagnoses. 

Preliminary results illustrate that patients who have accessed the prescribed exercise videos at home have had high satisfaction with the process of receiving, accessing, and viewing them. Prescribers have also found the process straight forward with high self-efficacy.

On September 19th, Dr Hani El-Gabalawy delivered the keynote address at the 10th Anniversary Cy Frank Legacy Lecture at the University of Calgary. He chose to present UCAN CAN DU as an exemplar project demonstrating impact and fostering international collaboration. UCAN CAN-DU advances Precision Health research and captures Socio-Economic impact of JIA on kids and families, leveraging cutting edge technologies in Genomics, Machine Learning and eHealth. UCAN CAN-DU was the Precision Health project showcased as an example of impact in the successful Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) grant entitled One Child Every Child.

The UCAN CAN-DU team thanks Dr El-Gabalawy for this kind acknowledgement of UCAN in the prestigious setting of the Cy Frank 10th Anniversary Legacy Lecture. We also thank our funders for their generous support.