Description
The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted access to healthcare, including complex wheelchair prescription. Swift action had to be taken to ensure that current wheelchair and seating equipment was meeting the end users’ needs or to complete evaluations for new equipment, pushing providers to integrate telehealth and remote services into wheelchair provision. This course will highlight how remote services can be utilized throughout the wheelchair delivery process, identify potential pros and cons of the remote services model, as compared to in-person, and clarify best practices to practice remotely. Our course will address the question of whether telehealth and remote services can be used to successfully meet client needs when in-person assessment is not possible.
Learning Outcomes:
Participants will be able to define telehealth (or remote service) and describe the primary differences between this and in-person service.
Participants will identify three challenges associated with remote wheelchair service provision and how to mitigate them.
Participants will identify three benefits associated with remote wheelchair service provision.
Erin Michael, PT, DPT, ATP/SMS is Manager of Patient Advocacy and Special Programs at Kennedy Krieger Institute’s International Center for Spinal Cord Injury (ICSCI) in Baltimore. She received her Doctor of Physical Therapy Degree from Ithaca College in 2006. She specializes in treating clients with a variety of paralyzing neurological conditions and has specialized in seating and mobility for over 12 years. Michael is the coordinator of the ICSCI Seating and Mobility Clinic. She received her assistive technology professional certification in 2011 and her seating and mobility specialist certification in 2013. Michael is currently an Executive Board member of the Clinician Task Force. She previously served as vice-chair of the Seating and Wheeled Mobility SIG of RESNA and as a member of the RESNA Professional Standards Board. Additional areas of interest include advocacy and adaptive sports and recreation. She is Chair of Team Kennedy Krieger, an adaptive sports and program serving the greater Baltimore area.
Meredith Linden, PT, DPT, ATP/SMS is a clinical specialist at the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. She received her Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Health Sciences in 2006 and her Doctor of Physical Therapy in 2008 from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. She specializes in treating both adults and children with a variety of paralyzing neurological conditions and has specialized in seating and mobility since 2009. Linden has been a certified assistive technology professional since 2011, and a certified seating and mobility specialist since 2015. Areas of interest including clinical education, seating and mobility, virtual reality, serial casting, pediatrics, and aquatic therapy.