Barriers and enablers to telehealth use by physiotherapists during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kimberley J Haines, Abbey Sawyer, Clare McKinnon and 6 others
PMID 36308980WHAT IT FOUND
Physiotherapists moved from fear to acceptance as they gained telehealth experience.
Supportive leadership, practice time, and home-based care helped. Quiet spaces, equipment, internet, and patients who needed hands-on or interpreter support remained barriers.
Key findings
01Clinicians moved from fear and hesitation to acceptance as telehealth familiarity increased.
02Supportive senior leadership and repeated practice helped clinicians adapt telehealth.
03Clinicians often preferred in-person care for complex, anxious, non-English speaking, older, or lower health literacy patients.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
It was a single-site study in one hospital physiotherapy department, so findings may not transfer to other services. It interviewed physiotherapists only, not patients or carers, so it does not report patient outcomes or experiences. The paper does not test telehealth against in-person care, so it cannot show whether telehealth was clinically effective. The pandemic context meant telehealth was adopted under urgent pressure, which may not reflect planned implementation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as evidence that telehealth improves patient outcomes. The study reports physiotherapists' perceptions, not patient results, and clinicians said complex, anxious, non-English speaking, older, or lower health literacy patients often needed in-person care.