Hi everyone how are you going? Karen Finnin
here, Physiotherapist and Director of
Online Physio. So I wanted to talk to you
today about a buzzword that you may have
heard if you're a digital nomad and that
is 'telehealth'. So telehealth is the
ability to convey a medical or health
consultation at a distance. So basically
the patient and the therapist may be in
two separate locations yet they're
providing that health service. Now it's
something that is certainly growing. It's
an aspect of the health industry that is
undergoing a lot of growth at the moment
and so I just wanted to have a bit of a
chat you about it and let you know what
it is, and the common questions people
have, like 'Is it safe?', you know, 'What sort
of health professionals can do these
sort of online consultations?'. So all
about telehealth basically. As many of
you may know I convey telehealth
consultations in the Physiotherapy world.
So I can do a consultation with someone
who's in a separate geographical
location to me and as a profession it's
probably one of the more unusual ones.
People traditionally think of Physio as
being a very hands-on profession, but in
fact a lot of it is to do with putting
together groups of symptoms to come up
with the right diagnosis, which then
leads to a rehabilitation plan which can
be conveyed through exercise apps and
that sort of thing. So there's actually a
lot more that can be done online with
Physio consultations than people think
and it makes it a really viable way for
people to make sure they're doing
the right thing for their injury when
they otherwise can't access the care.
Telehealth started in the allied health
space with logical ones like counseling,
Psychology that sort of thing. Obviously
more talking based sort of professions
lend themselves really well to
telehealth consultations. We are even
seeing it coming through in, like, Speech
Therapy and a few other professions like
that.
There's also digital gadgets being
created so that people can, you know, do
I suppose procedures that they wouldn't
normally be able to do without the use
of these pieces of technology. Now
commonly telehealth can be from a
medical clinic to perhaps a distance
specialist, so maybe a GP doing a
consultation with a specialist and the
GP and the patient are in one room and
the specialist is in another location.
That can happen but there is also, which
is more relevant for digital nomads, this
world of consultations where literally
patient somewhere therapist somewhere
and they're using technology to
communicate and convey that health
information. Is it safe? Well look I'm
here to tell you that absolutely it
is safe but the most important thing is
that the therapist is following the same
code of ethics, the same professional
standards that they would if they were
conveying face-to-face care. So things in
terms of confidentiality, security of
documents, having indemnity insurance, you
know, all of those same things that apply
should happen in the online space. So I
think the main thing to look for is 'What
is the health profession that they're
conveying? What country is that based in?'
and therefore look up appropriate
registers to make sure that they are
licensed, that they are registered and
that they're following, you know, all the
normal requirements of that health
profession. We'll be seeing more
and more telehealth services pop up over
the next few years and I think with that
we'll see the development of regulation
bodies to, you know, make sure and approve
these things but in the meantime it can
be safe, it can be a great way to access
health care when you're outside of your
own home country or you're traveling, or
even you're at home, but you know you're
about to be travelling, and you want to
be able to take that health professional
with you on your travels. Telehealth can
be a really great option. It's something
that raises a lot of questions, so if you
have any questions about telehealth or
how it works then feel free to drop me a
line. You can come visit me at the site
at www.online.physio and you can always email me karen@online.physio. Thanks guys glad to
share with you a little bit about
telehealth and
the opportunities that it can provide
for people traveling around. Thanks I'll
see you next time.
