Spreadsheet software to assess locomotor disability to quantify permanent physical impairment

CONTEXT: Assessment of physical disability is an important duty of a plastic surgeon especially for those of us who are in an institutional practice. AIM: The Gazette of India notification gives a guideline regarding the assessment of the disability. However, the calculations as per the guidelines are time consuming. In this article, a spreadsheet program which is based on the notification is presented. The aim of this article is to design a spreadsheet program which is simple, reproducible, user friendly, less time consuming and accurate. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This spreadsheet program was designed using the Microsoft Excel. The spreadsheet program was designed on the basis of the guidelines in the Gazette of India Notification regarding the assessment of Locomotor Disability to Quantify Permanent Physical Impairment. Two representative examples are presented to help understand the application of this program. RESULTS: Two spreadsheet programs, one for upper limb and another for the lower limb are presented. The representative examples show the accuracy of the program to match the results of the traditional method of calculation. CONCLUSION: A simple spreadsheet program can be designed to assess disability as per the Gazette of India Notification. This program is easy to use and is accurate.