Physiotherapy is an essential component of the recovery process. Other than in-person interactions to investigate all of the choices, there is an essential need for the exploration of rehabilitation options.
Telerehabilitation: What Is It Good For?
• Telehealth strives to remove obstacles to health care services and interventions, ensuring that everyone has equal access to them.
• Telehealth also aids in the removal of hurdles to face-to-face consultations, such as scheduling conflicts, inclement weather, and sickness
How physiotherapy telerehabilitation works?
At current time, the most practicable methods for swiftly delivering telerehabilitation to patients are:
• Telephone conversations
1. Patients' appointments will be arranged first
2. Then they will be assigned a particular time slot and contacted by the physiotherapist.
3. The physiotherapist will then take demographics and history, as well as discuss and assess the patient's major problems and will provide with an appropriate treatment.
As communication is restricted to audible information only for both the physiotherapist and the patient, telephone evaluation necessitates a higher level of expertise for the physiotherapist.
• Video-conferencing
1. Patients' appointments will be arranged first.
2. Then they will be assigned a particular time slot.
3. The patient will be given a link. By utilizing freely accessible or paid software for video conferencing applications like zoom, Google Meet, and Teams that can be downloaded from the internet and will be requested to join at a given time frame.
4. The physiotherapist will then take the patient's demographics and history, as well as discuss and assess the patient's major problems by asking him to show specific areas and ask him to perform certain movements and tests in order to diagnose the problem, and then provide online video guided physiotherapy sessions.
A sample architecture of a telemedicine app for physiotherapy
The main element it includes:
The pros:
For patients
➢Access to physiotherapy services that might otherwise be inaccessible in remote regions
➢Barriers such as travel time, parking, and waiting rooms are removed.
➢Improved safety for those who are unable to travel due to illness or mobility limitations.
➢Location isn't a factor.
➢More flexibility for patients because they can schedule therapy at times that suit them More cost-effective therapy in terms of travel, leaving work early, or leaving children or family with a caregiver Increased patient autonomy to manage their health through online self-management and monitoring
➢ In terms of travel, leaving job early, or leaving children or family with a caretaker, more cost-effective therapy is available.
For physiotherapist
➢As there is less travel between clinic locations, efficiency is improved.
➢Pathways for service users that are uniform
➢More consistency in patient self-management at home and monitoring of care and outcome standards
➢With the advancement of technology, there are more opportunities for greater innovation in the level of care.
The cons:
For patients
➢As the telehealth market increases, patients may find it simpler to "shop around" for different service providers' perspectives, which can lead to misunderstanding and discontinuity in the service/care offered.
➢As with any engagement, a provider must address cultural difficulties, notably surrounding image capture, but also eye contact and the therapist's gender.
➢Barriers to communication - if an interpreter is required, is this person knowledgeable with telehealth?
➢A caregiver or parent present when making decisions on vulnerable individuals or groups, such as older people and children
➢As there aren't as many visual indications as there are in face-to-face sessions, the therapist must have excellent communication skills.
For physiotherapist
➢The disadvantages of telerehabilitation are self-evident. As a clinician, physiotherapists are unable to utilize their hands, which have Previously, they were concerned with making treatment decisions as well as examining and diagnosing patients.
➢Pain, swelling, range of motion, strength, balance, and gait have all been demonstrated to be trustworthy using telehealth.
➢It is, however, less accurate when it comes to evaluating specific orthopedic bones and nerves.
Technological limitations
➢Internet connectivity - if it is inadequate or unstable, another mode of communication must be used.
➢Both the therapist and the patient must be knowledgeable about and capable of using the device.
➢The "safeguard" of the consultation, as well as the outcome of the consultation, is dependent on the integrity of the software used
➢The physical setup (appropriate lighting, camera set-up, audio, and backdrop) all contribute to the telehealth consultation's quality
➢In-person care differs from virtual care. Participants (patient and therapist) must, for example, gaze into the camera rather than at the video/on-screen information to make eye contact.
Written by
- Shruti Mogha (batch2018)
References-
- https://www.choicehealthcentre.com/pros-cons-of-virtual-caretelehealth-physiotherapy-of-the-future/
- https://www.physio-pedia.com/Introduction_to_Telehealth
- https://www.scnsoft.com/healthcare/telemedicine/physicaltherapy
Telerehabilitation is an important technique that connects practitioners and patients through technology. Telerehabilitation has been frequently advocated because of its prior success in the rehabilitation of specific illnesses.
Telerehabilitation: What Is It Good For?
• Telehealth strives to remove obstacles to health care services and interventions, ensuring that everyone has equal access to them.
• Telehealth also aids in the removal of hurdles to face-to-face consultations, such as scheduling conflicts, inclement weather, and sickness
How physiotherapy telerehabilitation works?
At current time, the most practicable methods for swiftly delivering telerehabilitation to patients are:
• Telephone conversations
1. Patients' appointments will be arranged first
2. Then they will be assigned a particular time slot and contacted by the physiotherapist.
3. The physiotherapist will then take demographics and history, as well as discuss and assess the patient's major problems and will provide with an appropriate treatment.
As communication is restricted to audible information only for both the physiotherapist and the patient, telephone evaluation necessitates a higher level of expertise for the physiotherapist.
• Video-conferencing
1. Patients' appointments will be arranged first.
2. Then they will be assigned a particular time slot.
3. The patient will be given a link. By utilizing freely accessible or paid software for video conferencing applications like zoom, Google Meet, and Teams that can be downloaded from the internet and will be requested to join at a given time frame.
4. The physiotherapist will then take the patient's demographics and history, as well as discuss and assess the patient's major problems by asking him to show specific areas and ask him to perform certain movements and tests in order to diagnose the problem, and then provide online video guided physiotherapy sessions.
A sample architecture of a telemedicine app for physiotherapy
The main element it includes:
The pros:
For patients
➢Access to physiotherapy services that might otherwise be inaccessible in remote regions
➢Barriers such as travel time, parking, and waiting rooms are removed.
➢Improved safety for those who are unable to travel due to illness or mobility limitations.
➢Location isn't a factor.
➢More flexibility for patients because they can schedule therapy at times that suit them More cost-effective therapy in terms of travel, leaving work early, or leaving children or family with a caregiver Increased patient autonomy to manage their health through online self-management and monitoring
➢ In terms of travel, leaving job early, or leaving children or family with a caretaker, more cost-effective therapy is available.
For physiotherapist
➢As there is less travel between clinic locations, efficiency is improved.
➢Pathways for service users that are uniform
➢More consistency in patient self-management at home and monitoring of care and outcome standards
➢With the advancement of technology, there are more opportunities for greater innovation in the level of care.
The cons:
For patients
➢As the telehealth market increases, patients may find it simpler to "shop around" for different service providers' perspectives, which can lead to misunderstanding and discontinuity in the service/care offered.
➢As with any engagement, a provider must address cultural difficulties, notably surrounding image capture, but also eye contact and the therapist's gender.
➢Barriers to communication - if an interpreter is required, is this person knowledgeable with telehealth?
➢A caregiver or parent present when making decisions on vulnerable individuals or groups, such as older people and children
➢As there aren't as many visual indications as there are in face-to-face sessions, the therapist must have excellent communication skills.
For physiotherapist
➢The disadvantages of telerehabilitation are self-evident. As a clinician, physiotherapists are unable to utilize their hands, which have Previously, they were concerned with making treatment decisions as well as examining and diagnosing patients.
➢Pain, swelling, range of motion, strength, balance, and gait have all been demonstrated to be trustworthy using telehealth.
➢It is, however, less accurate when it comes to evaluating specific orthopedic bones and nerves.
Technological limitations
➢Internet connectivity - if it is inadequate or unstable, another mode of communication must be used.
➢Both the therapist and the patient must be knowledgeable about and capable of using the device.
➢The "safeguard" of the consultation, as well as the outcome of the consultation, is dependent on the integrity of the software used
➢The physical setup (appropriate lighting, camera set-up, audio, and backdrop) all contribute to the telehealth consultation's quality
➢In-person care differs from virtual care. Participants (patient and therapist) must, for example, gaze into the camera rather than at the video/on-screen information to make eye contact.
Written by
- Shruti Mogha (batch2018)
References-
- https://www.choicehealthcentre.com/pros-cons-of-virtual-caretelehealth-physiotherapy-of-the-future/
- https://www.physio-pedia.com/Introduction_to_Telehealth
- https://www.scnsoft.com/healthcare/telemedicine/physicaltherapy
