Sarah Lyon, Occupational Therapist, recently wrote an article for OTPotential. It was too great not to share.
It’s a shame that most of us don’t know much about what’s involved—because telehealth is coming, whether we like it or not.
Telehealth occupational therapy is going to change the way we practice, and it will impact our profession in ways we have yet to imagine. And the more we know about telehealth, the better positioned we’ll be to leverage it in ways to best serve our clients and help prevent clinician burnout.
Telehealth was originally devised to bring much-needed healthcare services to underserved or rural populations, enabling patients to receive care when they might not otherwise be able to.
But even for patients who can access care, telehealth has its appeal. In today’s modern age of on-demand technomania, telehealth is wonderful option in terms of convenience and, frankly, staying on trend. If other professionals are meeting customers’ demands for on-demand care, why can’t occupational therapists?
Consider a post-CVA patient whose son would normally need to drive her to OT, but now she can ask questions and receive teletherapy in the comfort of her own home, and her son doesn’t have to miss work.
In any case, teletherapy is great for patient education, management of chronic illnesses, medication management, and more, and we occupational therapists are recognizing ways that we can provide our care remotely, as well.
The pros of telehealth
- Improves access to those who wouldn’t otherwise get OT
- Convenient
- Easier on the OT’s body
- Puts more emphasis on patient education and pain science
- Delivers care on-demand to meet today’s consumers
Read the rest of the article here. Signup for a free account and get started with telemedicine at doxy.me