Evaluating Efficiency of a Provincial Telerehabilitation Service in Improving Access to Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic

International Journal of Telerehabilitation, 2023 · DOI: 10.5195/ijt.2023.6523 · Published: March 1, 2023

COVID-19 Healthcare Telehealth & Digital Health

Simple Explanation

This study examines how well a new telerehabilitation service worked in the province of Alberta, Canada, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The service provided advice and support for people with musculoskeletal issues, neurological conditions, or recovery needs after having COVID-19. Researchers looked at things like call times, notes taken during calls, and interviews with people who used the service to see if it was helping people get the care they needed efficiently. The study found the service had a good potential to assist individuals, especially those in rural areas or waiting for other treatments. The study also recommends improvements like reducing call handling time and providing more resources for pain management.

Study Duration

Six months

Participants

Adult callers (537) who accessed the telerehabilitation service

Evidence Level

Not specified

Key Findings

1
The telerehabilitation service has the potential to positively impact access to rehabilitation during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for individuals in rural areas and those on wait lists.
2
Call metric analyses revealed that efficiency may be enhanced if call handling time was reduced.
3
AI/ML analyses found that pain was the most frequently-mentioned keyword in clinical notes, suggesting an area for additional telerehabilitation resources to ensure efficiency.

Research Summary

This study evaluated the efficiency of a novel telerehabilitation service in a provincial health system in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. The service aimed to provide wayfinding and self-management advice to individuals with musculoskeletal concerns, neurological conditions, or post-COVID-19 recovery needs. The study used multiple methods including secondary data analyses of call metrics, narrative analyses of clinical notes using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and qualitative interviews. The study concluded that the telerehabilitation service had the potential to positively impact access to rehabilitation, especially for individuals living rurally or on wait lists. However, call handling time needs to be reduced, and more resources should be devoted to pain management to improve efficiency.

Practical Implications

Improve Service Efficiency

Reduce call handling time to allow clinicians to take more calls and reduce wait times.

Targeted Resource Allocation

Devote more resources to pain management and musculoskeletal rehabilitation, as these were frequently mentioned by callers.

Enhanced Marketing Strategies

Implement multi-pronged, age-specific marketing strategies to promote awareness and utilization of the telerehabilitation service.

Study Limitations

1
The study may have been impacted by selection and recall bias.
2
AI/ML analyses were limited by sample size and the unstructured nature of the clinical notes.
3
Data-driven AI/ML systems require a sufficiently large input data set to function properly, which was limited in this study.

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