Research into telehealth applications in speech-language pathology.
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Date
2002-09-09
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Abstract
A literature review was conducted to investigate the extent to which telehealth has been researched within the domain of speech language pathology and the outcomes of this research A total of 13 studies were identified Three early studies demonstrated that telehealth was feasible although there was no discussion of the cost effectiveness of this process in terms of patient outcomes The majority of the subsequent studies indicated positive or encouraging outcomes resulting from telehealth However there were a number of shortcomings in the research including a lack of cost benefit information failure to evaluate the technology itself an absence of studies of the educational and informational aspects of telehealth in relation to speech language pathology and the use of telehealth in a limited range of communication disorders Future research into the application of telehealth to speech language pathology services must adopt a scientific approach and have a well defined development and evaluation framework that addresses the effectiveness of the technique patient outcomes and satisfaction and the cost benefit relationship