Speech therapists often struggle to balance their time appropriately. While most speech therapists understand the importance of spending quality time with their patients, this becomes more difficult with multiple patients scheduled throughout the day. This is especially true for speech therapists that see a lot of school and college aged students.
Although students can typically attend appointments during all hours of the day during the summer, this isn’t always possible once the school year begins. In addition to having less availability for important appointments, many patients find it difficult to travel to the office as often as recommended. It’s not uncommon for patients to switch to another speech therapist with a more convenient location to home. Although it might cut traveling time for the patient, changing providers can slow or affect treatment as different providers may use different methods of treatment.
Getting to appointments isn’t just a problem for young people. Older adults who have undergone medical procedures, strokes, and cognitive changes often struggle to travel to important speech therapy appointments. Unfortunately, communication skills can suffer without access to therapy.
Telemedicine Offers Numerous Benefits for Speech Therapists and Their Patients
Telemedicine allows speech therapists to provide quality care to patients located outside their office. Using video conferencing technology, telemedicine allows providers to properly care for their patients regardless of their ability to travel.
Speech therapists can benefit greatly from implementing a quality telemedicine solution. Telehealth reduces the amount of time speech therapists spend traveling from their office to schools and other locations. By offering on-demand services, providers can fill time slots in their schedule. Telemedicine makes it possible for providers to make the most of their time and optimize the level of care they are able to provide.
Telemedicine enables providers to make and maintain a strong connection with their patients. Through high quality videoconferencing software, providers can view and analyze their patient’s oral movements and positions and clearly hear them speak. This provides all of the information needed to fully evaluate their patient’s needs and progress. Patients can record and playback audio and video from their sessions, making it possible for them to critique themselves and see where they need to make corrections.
Telemedicine provides a convenient and reliable solution for both patients and providers. The American Association of Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) has conducted over forty studies on telemedicine and found that online speech therapy services provide similar outcomes as face-to-face therapy.
Telemedicine Platform
Let’s Talk Interactive provides a user-friendly, reliable, and HIPAA-compliant Telemedicine platform where patients and speech therapists can connect remotely. Users can join live sessions and interact with their provider using the latest speech and communication tools online. Users can record sessions to share with family members who wish to be included in their healthcare.
Let’s Talk Interactive provides everything healthcare providers need to begin offering telemedicine and telehealth services to their patients. Our unique telemedicine software suite enables speech therapists to maximize their time and connect with patients in new and meaningful ways.
Please contact us for more information about our telemedicine solutions for speech therapists.