Abstract
Rehabilitation service providers in rural or underserved areas are often challenged in meeting the needs of their complex patients due to limited resources in their geographical area. Recruitment and retention of the rural clinical workforce are beset by the ongoing problems associated with limited continuing education opportunities, professional isolation, and the challenges inherent to coordinating rural community healthcare. People with disabilities who live in rural communities also face challenges accessing healthcare. Traveling long distances to a specialty clinic for necessary expertise is troublesome due to inadequate or unavailable transportation, disability specific limitations, and financial limitations. Distance and lack of access are just two threats to quality of care that now being addressed by the use of videoconferencing, information exchange, and other telecommunication technologies that facilitate telerehabilitation.This white paper illustrates and summarizes clinical and vocational applications of telerehabilitation. We provide definitions related to the fields of telemedicine, telehealth, and telerehabilitation, and consider the impetus for telerehabilitation. We review the telerehabilitation literature for assistive technology applications; pressure ulcer prevention; virtual reality applications; speech-language pathology applications; seating and wheeled mobility applications; vocational rehabilitation applications; and cost-effectiveness. We then discuss external telerehabilitation influencers, such as the positions of professional organizations. Finally, we summarize clinical and policy issues in a limited context appropriate to the scope of this paper.Keywords: Telerehabilitation; Telehealth; Telemedicine; Telepractice
Highlights
Telecommunications technologies are changing ways of thinking, acting, and communicating throughout the world and within healthcare
We provide definitions related to the fields of telemedicine, telehealth, and telerehabilitation, and consider the impetus for telerehabilitation
As telerehabilitation services continue to grow as a complement to traditional face-to-face clinical services, there is an increasing need to standardize appropriate clinical uses, reimbursement, and health care policy regarding the use of telerehabilitation
Summary
Telecommunications technologies are changing ways of thinking, acting, and communicating throughout the world and within healthcare. As in any technological area, healthcare and telecommunication definitions and language evolves with developing concepts and technological innovation An example of this is the distinction between telehealth and telemedicine. Telemedicine, one of the oldest areas of applied technology in medicine, is described as “the use of electronic information and communications technology to provide and support healthcare when distance separates the participants” (Hatzakis, Haselkorn, Williams, Turner, & Nichol, 2003). Rehabilitation providers may not be aware of all telerehabilitation options available via innovative healthcare technologies. Fully aware of potential challenges inherent to technology application These issues present an obstacle for the agency, individual provider, or consumer who would like to consider implementing telerehabilitation for a particular environment, purpose, or disability group that may not necessarily match available descriptions or what they know/currently access and use. As telerehabilitation services continue to grow as a complement to traditional face-to-face clinical services, there is an increasing need to standardize appropriate clinical uses, reimbursement, and health care policy regarding the use of telerehabilitation
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