Written by: Roselyn Mathew / Treatment / March 23, 2022/ 10 minutes read

Digital therapy means providing therapy to the client using software and through online means. This is becoming immensely popular nowadays. There are different terminologies that are often used in digital therapy. The terms and what each term means will be discussed in this article.

Telehealth as defined by Mayo Clinic is “the use of digital information and communication technologies, such as computers and mobile devices, to access health care services remotely and manage your health care. These may be technologies you use from home or that your doctor uses to improve or support health care services.”

The goals of telehealth, also called e-health or m-health (mobile health), include the following:

• Make health care accessible to people who live in rural or isolated communities.

• Make services more readily available or convenient for people with limited mobility, time or transportation options.

• Provide access to medical specialists.

• Improve communication and coordination of care among members of a health care team and a patient.

• Provide support for self-management of health care.

Benefits of teletherapy

• Saves time 

Speech therapists spend a lot of time travelling to the clients' houses, schools, centres or to the clinics where they practice. If the speech language therapists work from their own clinics, clients need to travel to their clinics to avail services. But with teletherapy, therapists as well as clients need not spend time on travelling and can have sessions in their own homes.

• Convenience

Another issue with travelling other than time is the inconvenience caused. Clients or therapists sometimes have to face a lot of inconvenience if they don’t have their own vehicle and rely on public transport or other means. Moreover, if the weather conditions are harsh, it could be even worse for the clients especially if they have physical impairments or if the clients are children or the elderly. 

• Services can be provided to more clients

By saving travelling time for each client, therapists will be able to provide services for more clients. Therapists can accommodate a greater number of clients in their schedule and will be able to take clients one after the other without having to spend time between each client.

• Ability to keep a fixed and accurate schedule

With teletherapy, clinicians will be able to have a more accurate and fixed schedule and won’t have to keep a larger gap between each client by anticipating a delay in travelling time due to any unforeseen circumstances or issues.

• Less expensive

Whether it is the cost of travelling in a public transport or fuel charges in a vehicle, therapists and clients equally save money on travelling. Nowadays, there are a lot of options to get inexpensive wifi connections and clients can use their phones even if they don’t have laptops, to attend sessions with their therapist. Clients or therapists can also get desktops for reduced prices. Even though the desktops might be bulkier than laptops, they will not face any issues as these desktops need not be moved anywhere outside.

• Health care quality is improved 

With telehealth, clients from rural areas get equal opportunities as clients in urban areas. Clients also get more options for therapists and can see a therapist that they prefer instead of having to adjust with a therapist with whom they are not comfortable. This competition among therapists would make them do their best to give total client satisfaction which improves the overall standard of health care given to clients. Hence the quality of health care is improved.

• Better Health and Safety

Since clients and clinicians are at their own homes, they are safer than being outside. Travelling and sitting for the session might be unsafe. The risk of getting involved in an accident or being exposed to pathogens are eliminated when clients and clinicians don’t have to go out and can have the sessions in the comfort and safety of their own homes. Hence, lesser exposure to pathogens ensures safety for not only the clients and therapists, but for their families as well.

The definition of virtual care according to the  Canadian Medical Association is “any interaction between patients and/or members of their circle of care, occurring remotely, using any forms of communication or information technologies with the aim of facilitating or maximizing the quality and effectiveness of patient care.”

The reason why many people prefer virtual care is because it saves time, money and energy for travelling. The means to receive care and provide care is also convenient in this way. 

Research done by the Canadian Medical Association concludes that virtual care has the potential to mitigate some of what is expected to be a huge increase in the demand for home- and facility-based continuing care (both paid and informal unpaid) as the Canadian population ages.

Zoom is a popular platform for conducting virtual meetings and discussions among people. As stated by Wikipedia, Zoom Meetings (commonly shortened to Zoom and stylized as zoom) is a proprietary video teleconferencing software program developed by Zoom Video Communications. The free plan allows up to 100 concurrent participants, with a 40-minute time restriction. Users have the option to upgrade by subscribing to a paid plan. The highest plan supports up to 1,000 concurrent participants for meetings lasting up to 30 hours.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a major increase in the use of Zoom for remote work, distance education, and online social relations. The increase led to Zoom being the 5th most downloaded mobile app worldwide in 2020 at 477.3 million downloads.

 Zoom provides a comfortable interaction between the therapist and the client. A person can start a Zoom account and start delivering services via this channel. A person need not have to have an account in order to only participate in a discussion or avail services. There are paid versions of Zoom also that provide benefits like having group meetings. The advantages for having a Zoom therapy according to Advance Health are:

• The client connects face-to-face, so that they can see and talk to their therapist, live in a virtual therapy session. 

• Clients can connect remotely from the convenience of their home or office using their computer/laptop camera and audio.

To speak with one of the speech-language pathologists at Well Said: Toronto Speech Therapy, schedule an initial consultation by clicking the link below or calling (647) 795-5277.