Barriers to Video Call–Based Telehealth in Allied Health Professions and Nursing: Scoping Review and Mapping Process

Abstract

Background Telehealth interventions have become increasingly important in health care provision, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Video calls have emerged as a popular and effective method for delivering telehealth services; however, barriers limit the adoption among allied health professionals and nurses. Objective This review aimed to identify and map the perceived barriers to the use of video call–based telehealth interventions among allied health professionals and nurses. Methods A comprehensive literature search was conducted in the PubMed and CINAHL databases on June 22, 2022, and updated on January 3, 2023, following the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines. Only original studies published in English or German since June 2017 that reported barriers to the use of video call–based telehealth interventions were eligible for inclusion. The studies had to involve interviews, focus groups, or questionnaires with physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, audiologists, orthoptists, dieticians, midwives, or nurses. Each publication was coded for basic characteristics, including country, health profession, and target group. Inductive coding was used to identify the patterns, themes, and categories in the data. Individual codings were analyzed and summarized narratively, with similarities and differences in barriers identified across health professions and target groups. Results A total of 56 publications were included in the review, with barriers identified and categorized into 8 main categories and 23 subcategories. The studies were conducted in various countries, predominantly the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Israel, and India. Questionnaires were the most commonly used evaluation method, with 10,245 health professionals involved. Interviews or focus groups were conducted with 288 health professionals. Most of the included publications focused on specific health care professions, with the highest number addressing barriers for physical therapists, speech and language therapists, and audiologists. The barriers were related to technology issues, practice issues, patient issues, environmental issues, attributions, interpersonal issues, policies and regulations, and administration issues. The most reported barriers included the lack of hands-on experience, unreliable network connection, the lack of technology access, diminished fidelity of observations and poor conditions for visual instructions, the lack of technology skills, and diminished client-practitioner interaction and communication. Conclusions This review identified key barriers to video call–based telehealth use by allied health professionals and nurses, which can foster the development of stable infrastructure, education, training, guidelines, policies, and support systems to improve telehealth services. Further research is necessary to identify potential solutions to the identified barriers.

Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude, and Skills (AKAS) of Telemedicine and Its Use by Primary Healthcare Providers

“…This low proportion of those reporting a high skill level in our study could explain the study results of barriers reported by healthcare workers, such as lack of training that ranked as the first barrier, followed by connection problems and unavailability of the tools. Several studies had similar results in various healthcare settings and approaches, such as home care, 54 mental health, 55 allied health, the nursing profession, 56 and various clinical settings. 36 PHC workers’ leading suggestions were more TM training and stabilization of connection and networking signals.…”

Telehealth Education in Allied Health Care and Nursing: Web-Based Cross-Sectional Survey of Students’ Perceived Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes, and Experience

“…To successfully and sustainably implement telehealth and subsequently reap the benefits, it is necessary to integrate telehealth into the curricula of future health care providers [5]. A lack of knowledge and experience, as well as a lack of appropriate telehealth training, have been identified as major barriers to telehealth implementation among health care providers [17]. Conversely, telehealth education and training can increase the willingness to adopt telehealth, the perceived readiness, and confidence [5,13,[18][19][20].…”

The Development and Pilot Testing of a Fidelity Checklist for a Family-Centered Telehealth Intervention for Parents of Children with Motor Delay

“…Finally, no item explored the impact of technology issues on the fidelity of a telehealth intervention delivery. Recent studies, as well as our raters' comments, highlight issues with technology as important deterrents to telehealth service delivery ( De Taeye et al, 2023 ; Dostie et al, 2023 ; Grant et al, 2022 ; Hall et al, 2022 ; Hall et al, 2021 ; Kwok et al, 2022 ; Rettinger & Kuhn, 2023 ; Tully et al, 2021 ; Wittmeier et al, 2022 ). Consequently, the inclusion of behaviors related to navigating technology and/or associated with partnering with parents to resolve technological issues may need to be considered when assessing the fidelity of telehealth interventions.…”