Balogun’s telehealth article was what I expected. It highlighted the benefits and seemingly severe downfalls of telehealth. I definitely agreed with the discussion of benefits for vulnerable populations. Some individuals in these populations have debilitating conditions/illnesses, and they are especially in need of support. I don’t necessarily think anything was missing from the article. Though, Balogun discussed the cultural and systematic barriers marginalized citizens face, I don’t believe the time was taken to expound on the issue. There are so many resources and instances available that could’ve been pulled from to show the disparities regarding marginalized persons. I was surprised that of 47 referenced utilized, only 2 were used for this section, and even so, those articles where not focused on disparities. After reading Integrating Telehealth, I believe the most significant challenge is technology access and digital divide. The success of telehealth banks on internet usage and technology access, something not guaranteed for all potential clients. Also, for older clients, the digital divide comes into play. Courses may have to be provided for clients unfamiliar with select platforms used by service providers.
I was surprised that practitioners, surveyed in Zhu’s article, believed that public insurance companies were more reliable that private. I think I’ve heard biases toward public insurance companies like Medicare, so this was shocking. I like the notion that providers acknowledged the benefit of telehealth for rural areas. The use of telehealth was what I expected. As shown in table 2, telehealth jumped from pre- to during COVID-19. I was surprised by the comfort levels for using telemedicine. I would love a follow up to hear more about why certain practitioners were uncomfortable. The two factors stated that would affect whether practitioners would continue using telemedicine were client preference and health insurance reimbursement. Clients are able to feel more comfortable using telehealth verses in person services. If given the chance, I would certainly utilize telehealth in my practice. I think the benefits in this instance outweigh the downfalls. I would focus on clients who don’t have transportation to focus the telehealth on. I would hope that using telehealth could help curve some of the disparities faced by marginalized communities.
I really liked your point about the digital divide being one of the biggest challenges with telehealth. I also agree that it can be a great option for people who don’t have transportation or live in rural areas. Your idea about providing technology training for older adults is important because not everyone is comfortable using virtual platforms. Overall, I think you made a good point that the benefits of telehealth can outweigh the challenges when it’s used the right way.
When it came to figuring out why certain providers felt uncomfortable about implementing telehealth services, I said that I thought the clients would have been the ones who were unsure. I agree and would be interested in hearing more about this. You made a really good point when you suggested that clients who are not familiar with telehealth might benefit from some kind of training. However, I would like to know who would pay for the service and whether it would be on the providers’ discretion.
I enjoyed reading your post, and I appreciate you for taking the time out to share your perspective. I would like to take a part of what you said, “Some individuals in these populations have debilitating conditions/illnesses, and they are especially in need of support.”, and they do in fact need our support the most. They have limited to no access to care, and this could pose a potential threat to the quality of their life because they aren’t able to receive the proper services they need in order to thrive. I also agree with your point on the Zhu article. The digital divide will definitely cause a hinderance to care especially regarding the elderly population. They are largely disadvantaged due to not being able to properly use technology.
Jontavynn,
This literature review was very preliminary and the authors were attempting to give a picture of telehealth within social work at a moment in time. They were much less forthcoming about the details of their selection process than a lot of the other authors we have read since this article. But they have created a good directory of what was happening at the time, which is why I still include it.
The observation about the number of articles discussing marginalized people makes sense if you look at the list of articles and when they were written. We were really babies at that point in time in terms of our relationship to this technology.
You have accurately described the position of the authors regarding telehalth use, but I would have liked to hear more about why you thought. I think it’s interesting to think about Zhu, et. al, from the perspective of history and periods of time. They were doing research before, during and after a pandemic. There are lots of factors that came into play during those periods.
Dr P