SUPPLY CHAIN & SUSTAINABILITY
“ WE ’ RE WORKING ON RECRUITING A MORE DIVERSE GROUP OF STUDENTS AND MAKING SURE THAT WE ' RE BEING INCLUSIVE WITH OUR PATIENTS ”
DR . HEIDI JANNENGA CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF CLINICAL OFFICER OF WEBPT we ' re still having to fight for that ability to do that as physical therapists . Then just more legislation around autonomy .”
Telehealth is helping to address the effects of long COVID ( where symptoms last for weeks and even months after the infection is gone ), especially in regards to the musculoskeletal issues that come with it .
“ With long COVID , there ' s a lot of muscle wasting and patients struggle just to perform functional activities . There ’ s also respiratory weakness . Telehealth allows us to meet the patient where they are , as they may not necessarily be able to come into an environment , due to likely still being immunocompromised and not wanting to get exposed to other people or germs .”
Jannenga knows that , for those who have suffered with long COVID and those that have significant comorbidities like obesity or diabetes , physical therapists are one of the best equipped professions to help mitigate some of those comorbidities .
“ Hopefully , we can help patients become even healthier than they were pre-COVID .”
Securing rehab telehealth for the future In the future , WebPT wants to do a better job of tracking patient data .
“ For telehealth , we have had the past two years or so of data , but we were forced into it and obviously there was a learning curve ,” says Jannenga . “ The data that we have from that time is important to learn from , but not necessarily a norm . We haven ' t gotten to a place where we can really study that information to understand how it can actually be a long-term benefit , right ? It ' s just in the beginning stages of learning .”
As a part of reframing that perspective surrounding the use of telehealth , Jannenga is keen to embrace the hybrid model of working with patients . healthcare-digital . com 115