Sarabjeet Charchun
Purpose: The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced outpatient rehabilitation clinics to limit in-person appointments to ensure infection control and social distancing practices. As restrictions ease and in-person service returns, understanding clinicians’ experiences is critical for ongoing telerehabilitation use.
Methods: Participants were clinicians working in outpatient rehabilitation clinics in a largely urban Health Authority. A sequential exploratory design using both focus group and survey methods was used to gather data. Themes from the focus group data were used to develop a confirmatory survey.
Findings: Four themes emerged: (1) delivering services, (2) system considerations, (3) why telerehabilitation, and (4) potential pitfalls. The survey data was analyzed and provided additional insight into these themes.
Conclusions: Clinicians viewed telerehabilitation as an opportunity (90.5%). Considerations for continued telerehabilitation use include hybrid models, clinician and patient education, and equipment and infrastructure requirements.