The Challenge of Teleheath.

Feeling nervous before seeing a patient was something I believed I had grown out of several years ago. After nearly two decades, surely there was no reason to doubt my ability to help someone. Except on this occasion, for the first time my patient wasn’t going to be in front of me. I wasn’t going to have the advantage of seeing them stand up and walk with me to my consult room. I wasn’t going to have the psychological upper hand of them walking into a room with my qualifications on the wall. It was going to be a new experience for all.

Logging in for my first Telehealth consultation was in some respects, exciting. I had enjoyed learning about the new technology that had worked relatively smoothly when trialled with colleagues earlier in the week. I was also excited that this could help some patients be more independent with their health. Perhaps the need to work long days would diminish? In contrast, I was also apprehensive about how a Telehealth session should be structured? With no option for manual testing or treatment, would both my patient and I be satisfied with the outcome of the session. We would see.

From the start, I didn’t like only being able to see my patient’s face. Normally, subtle non-verbal cues would feed into my reasoning. However, via Telehealth I felt like I was seeing my patient through a telescope, I could only acquire a snapshot of their whole self, it felt out of context. We initially spoke over each other. We simultaneously apologised. It all felt uncomfortable. As an experienced clinician, this was not meant to happen.

Through no insight on my behalf, things suddenly changed. I smiled as I realised what was happening. Not wanting to speak over my patient and interrupt their flow I just sat and listened. When my patient finished explaining their point, I would ask them to continue with their story and continued to listen. As I listened, I learnt. My patient told me what was important to them.

Ending the session, I felt I had learnt more about this particular patient than what I had learnt from any previous patient in a single session. Without the ability to interject at will, the situation encouraged me to listen. I listened more than I had before. I liked it.

So what did I enjoy about the session so much? Initially it was a challenge to answer this question. After all, telehealth is incompatible with the traditional model of Physiotherapy, isn’t it? Perhaps it was the realisation that this new technology was not simply a tool to improve my current practice. Rather, telehealth is a tool to perform a new type of work and become a new type of clinician. What I enjoyed so much about this new insight was the understanding that I would become a different clinician because telehealth. I will develop and grow. That’s exciting in a scary way. New skills to learn and new ways of addressing problems. Despite starting out not knowing how telehealth should look like, I felt I had at least worked out my first lesson - I need to learn how to listen.

Join us at The Physio Social Club Café on Tues 21st April 2020 at 7am (AEST) to discuss the challenge of telehealth further.