Effectiveness of Telehealth for teaching specialized assessment techniques to physical therapists

grantor: University of TorontoObjective. To determine whether Telehealth is effective in teaching assessment and treatment skills to physical therapists at remote sites. Methods. A comparison of three educational formats: Teaching via Telehealth (T), Direct Teaching (DT), and Self Study (SS) was completed. Physical therapists in two Northern Ontario cities were rated on their execution of skills before and after education using a global rating scale and a general assessment of competency for each skill. The pre and post tests were completed by an evaluator who was blinded to the type of teaching. Results. Prior to education there were no differences in performance or competency levels between groups. There was no significant difference between DT and T for the post-test performance and competency scores. However, there was a significant difference in the post-test performance and competency scores between the T and SS groups for all five skills. Conclusions. It appears that Telehealth is a better teaching tool than self study and is not significantly different from direct teaching as a method for teaching specialized assessment techniques.M.Sc