Identifying the Challenges and Cost-effectiveness of Telerehabilitation: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Technology has been evolving at an exponential speed in the past decade and the evidence of a dramatic change is all around us such as self-driving cars, artificial intelligence, robotics, and many more. The fusion of physical, digital and biological worlds, the so-called 4th industrial revolution, has impacted all industries and disciplines including healthcare. It has changed the way we live, work, and interacts with people around the globe. Despite its numerous benefits it also brings several concerns such as organisations failing to adapt to this shift at an equal or adequate pace. It is imperative that we grab the opportunities it presents and together shapes a sustainable and highly productive future. The field of rehabilitation has begun to adapt to these changes and became known as Telerehabilitation (TR). A promising field can be instrumental in aiding healthcare delivery, enhancing compliance, and improving health outcomes and quality of life of patients. However, the development of TR has been at a much slower pace than expected in both developing and developed countries. This article is a review of status and trends in TR and will mainly deal with identifying challenges faced by its users, gaps and propose means for rectifying issues and for establishing cost-effectiveness. It is thus concluded that there should be future studies of high quality, analysing its cost effectiveness and cost benefit. Also, the challenges could be overcome by a combination of face to face delivery and TR.