Tele-rehabilitation is the delivery of rehabilitation services over telecommunication networks and the internet. Most types of services fall into two categories:
- clinical assessment (the patient’s functional abilities in his or her environment), and
- clinical therapy
Some fields of rehabilitation practise that have explored Tele-Rehabilitation are neuropsychology, speech-language pathology, audiology, occupational therapy, and physical therapy. Tele-Rehabilitation can deliver treatment to people who cannot travel to a clinic because the patient has a disability or because of travel time. Tele-Rehabilitation also allows experts in rehabilitation to engage in a clinical consultation at a distance.
Most Tele-Rehabilitation is visual. As of 2020, the most commonly used modalities are via webcams, videoconferencing, phone lines, videophones and webpages containing rich Internet applications. The graphic nature of Tele-Rehabilitation technology limits the types of rehabilitation services that can be provided. It is most widely used for neuropsychological rehabilitation; fitting of rehabilitation equipment such as wheelchairs, braces or artificial limbs; and in speech-language pathology. Tele-Rehabilitation in the practice of occupational therapy and physical therapy might belimited, perhaps because these two disciplines are more “hands-on”.
Clinical applications of Tele-Rehabilitation:
· Review of Tele-Rehabilitation research on clinical populations
- Professional to professional (clinic to clinic applications)
- Telehealth – Information access
Ref:
- Telerehabilitation – Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge …. https://infogalactic.com/info/Telerehabilitation
- Telehealth – Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teleneuropsychology