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Challenges to the Emergence of Telerehabilitation in a Developing Country: A Systematic Review

Background: Despite being known abroad as a viable alternative to face-to-face consultation and therapy, telerehabilitation has not fully emerged in developing countries like the Philippines. In the midst of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, wherein social distancing disrupted the in...

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Autores principales: Leochico, Carl Froilan D., Espiritu, Adrian I., Ignacio, Sharon D., Mojica, Jose Alvin P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7505991/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33013666
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2020.01007
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author Leochico, Carl Froilan D.
Espiritu, Adrian I.
Ignacio, Sharon D.
Mojica, Jose Alvin P.
author_facet Leochico, Carl Froilan D.
Espiritu, Adrian I.
Ignacio, Sharon D.
Mojica, Jose Alvin P.
author_sort Leochico, Carl Froilan D.
collection PubMed
description Background: Despite being known abroad as a viable alternative to face-to-face consultation and therapy, telerehabilitation has not fully emerged in developing countries like the Philippines. In the midst of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, wherein social distancing disrupted the in-clinic delivery of rehabilitation services, Filipinos attempted to explore telerehabilitation. However, several hindrances were observed especially during the pre-implementation phase of telerehabilitation, necessitating a review of existing local evidences. Objective: We aimed to determine the challenges faced by telerehabilitation in the Philippines. Method: We searched until March 2020 through PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane Library, and HeRDIN for telerehabilitation-related publications wherein Filipinos were involved as investigator or population. Because of the hypothesized low number of scientific outputs on telerehabilitation locally, we performed handsearching through gray literature and included relevant papers from different rehabilitation-related professional organizations in the Philippines. We analyzed the papers and extracted the human, organizational, and technical challenges to telerehabilitation or telehealth in general. Results: We analyzed 21 published and 4 unpublished papers, which were mostly reviews (8), feasibility studies (6), or case reports/series (4). Twelve out of 25 studies engaged patients and physicians in remote teleconsultation, teletherapy, telementoring, or telemonitoring. Patients sought telemedicine or telerehabilitation for general medical conditions (in 3 studies), chronic diseases (2), mental health issues (2), orthopedic problems (2), neurologic conditions (1), communication disorders (1), and cardiac conditions (1). Outcomes in aforementioned studies mostly included telehealth acceptance, facilitators, barriers, and satisfaction. Other studies were related to telehealth governance, legalities, and ethical issues. We identified 18 human, 17 organizational, and 18 technical unique challenges related to telerehabilitation in the Philippines. The most common challenges were slow internet speed (in 10 studies), legal concerns (9), and skepticism (9). Conclusion: There is paucity of data on telerehabilitation in the Philippines. Local efforts can focus on exploring or addressing the most pressing human, organizational, and technical challenges to the emergence of telerehabilitation in the country.
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spelling pubmed-75059912020-10-02 Challenges to the Emergence of Telerehabilitation in a Developing Country: A Systematic Review Leochico, Carl Froilan D. Espiritu, Adrian I. Ignacio, Sharon D. Mojica, Jose Alvin P. Front Neurol Neurology Background: Despite being known abroad as a viable alternative to face-to-face consultation and therapy, telerehabilitation has not fully emerged in developing countries like the Philippines. In the midst of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, wherein social distancing disrupted the in-clinic delivery of rehabilitation services, Filipinos attempted to explore telerehabilitation. However, several hindrances were observed especially during the pre-implementation phase of telerehabilitation, necessitating a review of existing local evidences. Objective: We aimed to determine the challenges faced by telerehabilitation in the Philippines. Method: We searched until March 2020 through PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane Library, and HeRDIN for telerehabilitation-related publications wherein Filipinos were involved as investigator or population. Because of the hypothesized low number of scientific outputs on telerehabilitation locally, we performed handsearching through gray literature and included relevant papers from different rehabilitation-related professional organizations in the Philippines. We analyzed the papers and extracted the human, organizational, and technical challenges to telerehabilitation or telehealth in general. Results: We analyzed 21 published and 4 unpublished papers, which were mostly reviews (8), feasibility studies (6), or case reports/series (4). Twelve out of 25 studies engaged patients and physicians in remote teleconsultation, teletherapy, telementoring, or telemonitoring. Patients sought telemedicine or telerehabilitation for general medical conditions (in 3 studies), chronic diseases (2), mental health issues (2), orthopedic problems (2), neurologic conditions (1), communication disorders (1), and cardiac conditions (1). Outcomes in aforementioned studies mostly included telehealth acceptance, facilitators, barriers, and satisfaction. Other studies were related to telehealth governance, legalities, and ethical issues. We identified 18 human, 17 organizational, and 18 technical unique challenges related to telerehabilitation in the Philippines. The most common challenges were slow internet speed (in 10 studies), legal concerns (9), and skepticism (9). Conclusion: There is paucity of data on telerehabilitation in the Philippines. Local efforts can focus on exploring or addressing the most pressing human, organizational, and technical challenges to the emergence of telerehabilitation in the country. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-09-08 /pmc/articles/PMC7505991/ /pubmed/33013666 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2020.01007 Text en Copyright © 2020 Leochico, Espiritu, Ignacio and Mojica. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neurology
Leochico, Carl Froilan D.
Espiritu, Adrian I.
Ignacio, Sharon D.
Mojica, Jose Alvin P.
Challenges to the Emergence of Telerehabilitation in a Developing Country: A Systematic Review
title Challenges to the Emergence of Telerehabilitation in a Developing Country: A Systematic Review
title_full Challenges to the Emergence of Telerehabilitation in a Developing Country: A Systematic Review
title_fullStr Challenges to the Emergence of Telerehabilitation in a Developing Country: A Systematic Review
title_full_unstemmed Challenges to the Emergence of Telerehabilitation in a Developing Country: A Systematic Review
title_short Challenges to the Emergence of Telerehabilitation in a Developing Country: A Systematic Review
title_sort challenges to the emergence of telerehabilitation in a developing country: a systematic review
topic Neurology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7505991/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33013666
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2020.01007
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