Written by: Roselyn Mathew / Treatment / March 09, 2022 / 10 minutes read

The definition of Telehealth as defined by the Health Resources Services Administration as “the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration”. Telehealth includes remote non-clinical services, such as provider training, administrative meetings, and continuing medical education in addition to clinical services. With advancement in technology, people have been able to better connect with others through various means. Telehealth has been gaining popularity since then especially during COVID-19 pandemic. Even though telehealth was developed out of necessity, it has been gaining widespread popularity everywhere and has replaced the word ‘convenience’ instead of ‘necessity’.

Telehealth is being popular in the field of speech language pathology as well. Consultations, counselling, assessment and therapy is done to clients via telehealth. Platforms such as Zoom, Google meet, Microsoft teams are used to provide services to the pediatric and adult populations worldwide.

There are numerous benefits in using telehealth to provide speech and language services to clients. These are:

• 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 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 completely 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.

• No tiredness and more productivity

Travelling makes both clinicians and clients tired. It could be very tiring to clinicians if they require to travel to clients' homes, schools or day cares. Therapists could become quickly tired which could lead to less productivity at work or outside work. But when there is no requirement to travel clients and clinicians would become more productive.

• Lesser no shows, rescheduling and last moment cancellations

As clients need to find time to attend sessions along with their work and other activities, it could actually become more difficult to dedicate time for travelling and seeing the therapist. Due to other commitments or by being late, clients might have to reschedule or cancel their appointments which could be an inconvenience to the therapists. But with teletherapy, clients can find more time and energy to take care of their other requirements and also attend sessions regularly and on time. 

• Better assessment and therapy of pediatric clients

Children might not be cooperative during assessment or therapy when they are in a different environment. By teleassessment and teletherapy, it would be easier to assess the child in a natural environment and children would also be more interested to attend the sessions as they are in a comfortable environment. 

• Better access to client details and records

By digital record keeping, the information, reports and other details of the clients can be easily access by the therapist for planning and for working for the overall progress of the client.

Hence, it can be observed that there are numerous advantages of telehealth over in- person services. Clients and clinicians could face a lot of challenges while trying out telepractice as it is relatively new. However, once they overcome the challenges and get used to it, they would prefer this method than the traditional in- person method. Therefore, it is beneficial to spread awareness and give people the freedom to choose the method that they would prefer.

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.