Teaching or Torching Telehealth in Education and Practice
Purpose:
Telehealth is a rapidly growing area of clinical practice across the health professions as consumers demand the healthcare system be more responsive to their needs. The use of synchronous, asynchronous, and remote monitoring platforms allows clinicians to reach patients where they are and has been found to be safe and cost-effective for a variety of conditions. The physical therapy licensure compact provides our profession the unique opportunity to leverage our expertise across state lines with minimal friction. Despite the scope of opportunity, many physical therapy education programs have not yet integrated competencies required to function in a telehealth environment.
The purpose of this session is to examine settings, regulations, and competencies associated with the growing telehealth market, as well as develop a conceptual framework for implementing telehealth in education and practice.
Methods and/or Description of Project:
This session will explore topics related to telehealth with a special emphasis on physical therapy education in the clinic and the classroom. The session will begin with gathering attendees’ perceptions of telehealth to create a wordcloud followed by a discussion of what telehealth is. Usage and growth data from health professions will be presented and key regulatory policies and opportunities including the physical therapy licensure compact will be discussed. A guest speaker will join the session via videoconference to engage in generative small and large group discussions will explore key questions related to the use of telehealth. Changes required to effectively practice in telehealth will be demonstrated. Participants will generate a plan to educate students or stakeholders on the benefits and challenges of telehealth to foster greater adoption. Speakers will close the session with a 3W reflection exercise answering the key questions: What? So what? Now what?
Results/Outcomes:
Participants will leave the session able to discuss settings in which telehealth is being used, investigate state regulations related to telehealth, outline key differences between telehealth and traditional face to face clinical practice, examine competencies needed to effectively practice in a telehealth environment, and design a plan to effectively educate students or stakeholders to promote adoption of telehealth in education or practice.
Conclusions/Relevance to the conference theme:
Telehealth has the potential to disrupt the healthcare system through lowering the barrier to enter private practice, improve access to care for rural and underserved populations, and respond to consumer demand for more convenient . Implementation of telehealth presents opportunities to expand the skills of the physical therapy workforce and respond to societal need; therefore, it is imperative that clinical and academic educators themselves learn the skills necessary to teach others to use this disruptive technology.