Authors (including presenting author) :
Chan KW(1), Wong YH(1), Yip CY(1)
Affiliation :
(1)Department of Speech Therapy, Queen Mary Hospital
Introduction :
Telepractice in speech therapy refers to the use of information technology to provide remote assessment and treatment for patients. Promising patients' satisfaction and treatment outcomes has been published overseas. However, the use of telepractice remained unconventional in Hong Kong due to geographical proximity and easy accessibility of speech therapy service. Due to the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease-19 in early 2020, pilot implementation of telepractice was introduced as an alternative service delivery model in Speech Therapy Department, Queen Mary Hospital from February to May in 2020.
Objectives :
The current study aimed to investigate patients' satisfaction on telepractice.
Methodology :
Patients were invited to complete a non-standardized questionnaire regarding their satisfaction on telepractice after telepractice session. The quality of videoconference, operation of telepractice platform, ease of following therapists' instruction via telepractice and patients' satisfaction were evaluated by using a 5-point Likert scale.
Result & Outcome :
Sixty-two respondents were recruited in this study (23 were paediatrics and 39 were adult patients). Intervention on dysphagia, voice disorder, dysarthria, dysphasia, paediatric speech, language and feeding disorders were provided through telepractice. Over 90% of the respondents agreed that telepractice was able to meet their rehabilitation needs and they were satisfied with the experience. Comparable patients' satisfaction was achieved by the use of commercially available videoconferencing software. Over 60% respondents preferred telepractice over face-to-face therapy. Implementation of telepractice was a viable option for service delivery in speech therapy during pandemic and possibly in near future. It was important to note that further researches on the treatment efficacy on telepractice were warranted.
