Telehealth.. Forcing us to improve ?
The last few weeks have been catastrophic for private practice clinicians, whether that be Osteopaths, Physiotherapists, Chiropractors, Exercise Physiologists etc. Covid-19 has caused a massive drop off in face to face consultations due to the obvious… Our services dont abide by the 1.5m distancing rules that have been set out, in order to slow the disease transmission.
Whilst the above therapies are still considered “essential services” at the time of this blog, it gets merky. Many practices are switching to online consults, and other practices are still carrying out face to face consultations. Whichever the clinics choose to do, here are a few reasons why i think online consultations are a win for the allied health professions;
“Sink or swim”
It is only a matter of time before the government enforces social distancing policies that are bound to shut down allied health care practices, so the earlier that private practice clinicians start adapting to the times ahead, the better (in my opinion). And who knows the time frame in which our face to face consultations may be affected for? It is also a time that we can take a step back, focus on the task ahead and re-evaluate our clinical skills (or lack thereof).
A question i have always asked myself ;
How do we make a meaningful difference to a person without having to do manual therapy? Can we give them the tools to understand their condition by actually listening, assessing, showing, reinforcing and giving them strategies to cope on their own? … Bad for business i know.
Online consultations force us to use our brains and adapt strategies to the person on the other side of the computer, rather than just blindly applying manual therapy to the person on the table. Here’s an analogy i like to use;
Remember when you were a kid and banged your knee , and your parent rubbed it better?
Did you study between four and five years to do something that someone with no medical training thought to do when someone was in pain?
Well.. anyway i didn’t. I think as professionals we can provide much more value than just manual therapy, and by taking that away from clinicians temporarily it will force us to adapt. Because at the end of the day teaching someone to manage their condition is going to have a far better effect on someones quality of life, than two days of symptom improvement.
And that is my two cents on the above matters!