Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies
Date Submitted: Nov 24, 2022
Date Accepted: Feb 27, 2023
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Clinicians’ experiences implementing telerehabilitation: a qualitative descriptive study from a multicenter use of Toronto Rehab Telerehab Toolkit
ABSTRACT
Introduction and purpose: While the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a rapid implementation and scale-up of telehealth for patients in need of rehabilitation, an overall slower scaling up to telerehabilitation has been documented. The study purpose was to understand rehabilitation professionals’ experiences of providing telerehabilitation, as well as using a recently developed toolkit for virtual implementation, called the Toronto Rehab Telerehab Toolkit.
Methods:
The study adopted a qualitative descriptive approach that consisted of telephone or videoconference supported interviews and focus groups.
Results:
Overall, four themes were identified including: 1) implementation considerations for telerehabilitation, encompassing two sub-themes of infrastructure/equipment/space and leadership/organizational support; 2) innovations developed as a result of telerehabilitation; 3) the toolkit as a catalyst for implementing telerehabilitation; and, 4) recommendations for improving the toolkit. Discussion/conclusion: Specific recommendations gleaned from the current study will be used to improve the next iteration of the toolkit (Toolkit 2.0) to promote safe, accessible, and effective telerehabilitation to patients in need.
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Copyright
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