The VISYTER Telerehabilitation System for Globalizing Physical Therapy Consultation: Issues and Challenges for Telehealth Implementation

Background and Purpose. There are substantive issues to address in physical therapist education programs facing obstacles related to faculty funding for educational endeavors, identification of optimal pedagogies, and consideration of global and national health concerns. Educational technologies may serve as tools to expand the delivery of high-quality, efficient health care education to address current, evolving, and future needs of physical therapist students and the patients they will serve. The purpose of this case report is to describe the Versatile and Integrated System for Telerehabilitation (VISYTER) and its use for physical therapy telehealth consultation in an international setting, as well as its use to measure patient satisfaction and explore provider perspectives on the experience. Case Description. Three pediatric patients, 1 male and 2 females, with a mean age of 5 years (SD=3), and located in Mexico, participated in a telehealth session with academic and clinical faculty in the United States using the VISYTER telerehabilitation system. A patient satisfaction survey and user perspectives were collected and analyzed. Key themes were identified from semi-structured interviews with patients, family members, and health care providers. Outcomes. Patient satisfaction was high for utilizing the VISYTER telerehabilitation system. A key theme was that technology-assisted collaboration between the health care team members and patients may further education, research, and practice in Mexico and the United States. Discussion and Conclusion. Several challenges must be addressed when considering telehealth implementation internationally. Overall, the VISYTER telerehabilitation software, using lowbandwidth Internet connections (384 kbps) and aggressive compression with low resolution (320 x 240), allowed for a stable telehealth physical therapy consultation between Mexico to the United States.