Abstract
Telehealth is a service model whose use has continued to grow since the COVID-19 pandemic. This poster will share current evidence and recommendations for telehealth education enhanced by the perspective of telehealth fieldwork students.
Primary Author and Speaker: Piper Hansen
Additional Authors and Speakers: Jackson G. Wells
The COVID-19 pandemic required healthcare professionals to quickly pivot to a telehealth service delivery model (Shaver, 2022). Occupational therapy (OT) students also participated in the provision of telehealth services. Telehealth remains a growing practice and therapy opportunity (Marchant, 2021). While current literature outlines the benefits and barriers to telehealth, little evidence is available regarding standardization and best educational practices for telehealth education (Chike-Harris et al., 2021). This scoping review examined telehealth education literature across Scopus, PubMed, and CINAHL, analyzing 123 articles, with four meeting inclusion criteria. Thematic analysis of these articles revealed four core themes from the student perspective: generally positive telehealth experiences, strong support from clinical instructors, challenges in adapting interventions, and limited prior exposure to telehealth. Significant barriers emerged, including the integration of telehealth into already compact curricula, lack of standardized approaches, limited resources, and minimal practitioner expertise. Based on this scoping review recommendations emphasize the need for curricular standardization with a focus on enhancing digital literacy, advanced communication, and professional reasoning for adapting telehealth practices. This study underscores the benefits of national organizations like the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA, 2018) and the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education to develop comprehensive telehealth educational standards. Expanding telehealth education literature and establishing standardized best practices could better prepare OT students for telehealth service delivery, addressing critical competencies for effective virtual therapy. This review provides insight into current practices, identifies barriers, and proposes recommendations informed by the lived experiences of OT students who completed telehealth fieldwork.
American Occupational Therapy Association. (2018). Telehealth in occupational therapy. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 72(Suppl. 2), 7212410059. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2018.72S219
Chike-Harris, K., Durham, C., Logan, A., Smith, G., & DuBose-Morris, R. (2021). Integration of telehealth education into the health care provider curriculum: A review. Telemedicine Journal and E-health, 27(2), 137–149. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2019.0261
Marchant, J. M. (2021). Understanding the allied health professions student experience of practice placements during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. International Journal of Practice-based Learning in Health and Social Care, 9(2), 39–48. https://doi.org/10.18552/ijpblhsc.v9i2.741
Shaver, J. (2022). The state of telehealth before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice, 49(4), 517–530. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pop.2022.04.002