Stroke and Telerehabilitation: A Brief Communication

Abstract

This rapid communication highlights stroke telerehabilitation, a health care service that provides daily monitoring of the care of patients recovering from stroke, delivering convenient and immediate feedback for patients, family, and caregivers. The delivery, management, and coordination of nursing care services, provided via telecommunications technology, is a convenient method of delivering health care to patients recovering from stroke. It is important to assess the service quality of the telehealth process and to establish the role of telehealth nursing and related technologies in the care of patients recovering from stroke. Studies show that even though both health professionals and participants have reported high levels of satisfaction and acceptance of telerehabilitation interventions, the quality of the evidence on telerehabilitation in poststroke care remains low. Conducting a quality study of telehealth rehabilitation for patients recovering from stroke will help assess if home health agencies with telehealth capabilities caring for patients recovering from stroke and patients with chronic diseases can provide quality care to patients in their home and fill this health care gap. Patients that are severely handicapped and impaired and unable to reside in their home environment are not included in telerehabilitation services provided by the home care agency. It would be informative to study the benefits of telerehabilitation and the care provided to patients recovering from stroke within nursing homes, given the need for social distancing to reduce disease transmission during the current coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global health pandemic. Using telerehabilitation would mean that patients have a lower risk of exposure to infectious agents. Further research into telehealth interventions and stroke management in home care is crucial.

Keywords: nursing; rehabilitation; stroke; telehealth; telerehabilitation.