Telepractice and Dysphagia Management: The Era of COVID-19 and Beyond.
Dysphagia
; 37(6): 1386-1399, 2022 Dec.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1797640
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic drove rapid and widespread uptake of telepractice across all aspects of healthcare. The delivery of dysphagia care was no exception, with telepractice recognized as a service modality that could support social distancing/infection control, overcome service delivery challenges created by lockdowns/service closures, and address consumer concerns about attending in-person appointments. Now, almost two years since most services first rapidly deployed telepractice, it is time to reflect on the big picture, and consider how telepractice will continue as a service option that is sustained and integrated into mainstream dysphagia care. It is also timely to consider the research agenda needed to support this goal. To this end, in this paper we present 4 discussion topics, which raise key considerations for the current and future use of telepractice within adult and pediatric dysphagia services. These are (1) Dysphagia services must meet consumer and service needs; (2) Aspects of dysphagia services can be safely and reliably provided via telepractice; (3) Telepractice can be used in flexible ways to support the delivery of dysphagia services; and (4) Providing quality dysphagia services via telepractice requires planned implementation and evaluation. Then directions for future research are discussed. These considerations are presented to help shift perspectives away from viewing telepractice as simply a COVID-19 "interim-care solution". Rather, we encourage clinicians, services, and researchers to embrace a future of "integrated care", where traditional dysphagia services are combined with telepractice models, to enhance the quality of care provided to our clients.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Deglutition Disorders
/
Speech-Language Pathology
/
Telemedicine
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
Limits:
Adult
/
Child
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Dysphagia
Journal subject:
Gastroenterology
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S00455-022-10444-2
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