Identifying perceived barriers to videoconferencing by rehabilitation medicine providers

The aim of this study was to identify barriers to the utilisation of videoconferencing within a multidisciplinary rehabilitation medicine healthcare team, as the first step towards creating a telerehabilitation service. A survey was developed on videoconference use and barriers to use, and distributed to healthcare providers including rehabilitation medicine societies and allied health societies through an anonymous link to SurveyMonkey®. There were 254 respondents, practicing primarily in Australia (n = 245), in various healthcare roles. One-hundred and fifty-nine (66%) of respondents used videoconferencing regularly, primarily for their own education. Respondents not currently utilising videoconferencing (n = 82, 34%) ranked the reasons for this and provided free-text responses to explain why this modality was not being utilised in practice. Respondents were reluctant to use videoconferencing because of perceived increase in time needed for video consultations compared to face-to-face consultations, concerns with lack of privacy and confidentiality, and a lack of clinical practice guidelines for video consultation. We believe many barriers to videoconferencing by healthcare providers can be managed with appropriate education and targeted training. Future research studies, which focus on standards and clinical practice guidelines for videoconferencing by healthcare providers, may result in increased utilisation of this modality for healthcare delivery in rehabilitation medicine.