Telehealth… you have probably had this offered to you a thousand times by thousand different health providers lately. But what is it? How does it work? What are the benefits of it? This blog aims to answer all your questions about telehealth, to help make more sense of it and put your mind at ease.
What exactly is Telehealth…?
You have probably had Telehealth offered to you a thousand times by a thousand different health providers lately. This blog will help to make sense of it all and put your mind at ease.
The use of telecommunications and virtual technology to deliver health care outside of traditional health-care facilities.
Basically, telehealth is a fancy word for using technology, such as phone or video conferencing, to access essential health and wellbeing services. Here at The Potential Ability Group, we have chosen to use 8x8 as our platform for telehealth sessions. 8x8 is a free to clients, easy to use, online system that lets us complete therapy sessions through video means. It’s fairly similar to FaceTime, Zoom, or Skype, which most people are familiar with. This means, we can see you, you can see us, we can talk to each other, ask questions, engage in therapy activities, and most of all, laugh and have fun! Therapy sessions will be carried out just like how they normally would, but through video instead. Easy peasy!
I recognise that for some people, sessions through video conferencing may seem a little tricky at first glance. But remember to breathe, have a cuppa... and then have a chat to your OT. We can suggest a magnitude of strategies to help make therapy work during these uncertain times. Often, you just need to have a go at one teleconference session to settle your nerves and see how it works.
At The Potential Ability Group, once consent if given by you, our team will set up a secure 8x8 link and send it to you via email with a basic factsheet on how the process works, ‘How to Set Up and Use 8x8 for OT Sessions’. In preparation for your teleconference session, you will just need to follow these easy steps.
If you get stuck, or have any questions our friendly staff are happy to help walk you through the steps.
Telehealth has a variety of benefits including:
We know things are a little uncertain at the moment... you may feel like your normal routine has gone out the window… but let me assure you, The Potential Ability Group isn’t going anywhere! We are just doing things a little differently for the time being. Telehealth is making it so much easier to put some normality back into our everyday lives, by enabling OT sessions to continue on a regular basis. So, I encourage you to have a go at a telehealth session with your OT or ask us more questions. No questions are silly, no questions are off limits! We are here to support you! After all, we are all in this together. Stay safe!
World Health Organisation (WHO) 2020, ‘Telehealth’, accessed 30/3/20, <https://www.who.int/sustainable-development/health-sector/strategies/telehealth/en/>.
Neville, C 2018 ‘Telehealth: A Balanced Look at Incorporating This Technology Into Practice’, SAGE Journals, accessed 30/3/20 <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2377960818786504>