Telerehabilitation services: a successful paradigm for occupational therapy clinical services?
This review sheds light on telehealth and telerehabilitation services with a focus in occupational therapy practice It summarizes clinical and research applications benefits and impact limitations barriers and current needs and recommendations for future adoption of more evidence based occupational therapy telehealth services Our review confirmed that telehealth is useful and can be an appropriate remote service delivery model for occupational therapy Telehealth connects clients with occupational therapists through information and communication technologies thereby improving easy access to services for underserved populations when in person encounters are not possible or practical Telerehabilitation provides occupational therapists and other healthcare professionals with flexibility to continue treating their patients while following best practices and ethical standards Telehealth is needed nowadays more than ever and more research is recommended to further address current and future challenges and support expansion of telehealth applications in the field of rehabilitation and occupational therapy