The perspectives of South African academics within the disciplines of health sciences regarding telehealth and its potential inclusion in student training

Abstract

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The perspectives of speech–language pathologists: Providing teletherapy to patients with speech, language and swallowing difficulties during a COVID-19 context

“…It is known that contextual relevance is important in health care, especially when it comes to establishing infrastructure and rolling out technology to promote health services. In a context like South Africa, where social determinants of health have contributed both to the inequitable distribution of health resources and access and to failure in redressing the injustices of the past, careful consideration must be taken to ensure that these service delivery models are both feasible and sustainable (Govender & Mars, 2018 ). Based on the participants’ responses below on the disadvantages, it is seen that teletherapy might not always be feasible in the context of South Africa where there are financial constraints, which can be further exacerbated by the need for data, technological devices and abilities for teletherapy:…”

Tele-audiology and preventive audiology: A capacity versus demand challenge imperative in South Africa

“…There appears to be limited collaborative and synergistic functioning between the various South African departments, such as Health, Labour and Education, in as far as assessment and management of patients with hearing impairment or those at risk of developing one, thus not only impacting identification but also the continuity of care for patients in these sectors. Although the South African health care acts and policies are progressively acknowledging the importance of ICT in health care, particularly within the 4IR, and they advocate for the utilisation of technology and telehealth applications within the health care service delivery model (Govender & Mars 2018), this recognition has not been extended to occupational health and safety in the form of HCPs and the school health care programmes currently in place. 2019).…”

“…One of the telehealth promotion strategies (see Govender & Mars 2018b), particularly within developing contexts, is to assimilate telehealth-care approaches into the education and training programmes of health care professionals to improve awareness, utility and sustainability in a variety of health care contexts (cf. Edirippulige, Armfield & Smith 2013).…”

“…In their quest to increase access to preventive audiological services through this service delivery model, audiologists must take heed of the six ethical challenges identified by to be relevant in tele-audiology. These training in African education and training programmes because of the lack of standards and regulations surrounding ethical practice around this model of delivery has been documentedGovender & Mars 2018;…”

Clinical education and training: Have we sufficiently shifted our paradigm?

“…The aspects of an integrated model of clinical education are explored by Chetty et al, [3] while additional perspectives about interprofessional education and practice are provided by Moodley and Singh. [4] Data relating to effectiveness and experiences of students acting as advocators of good health are reported on by Mhlongo et al [5] and Smit et al [6] The exploration of teaching and learning activities, such as telehealth [7] and performance art, [8] demonstrates that educators continue to examine different innovative methods to develop competencies of health professions students.…”