Remote physiotherapy in Finland—suitability, usability and factors affecting its use

Abstract Objective To investigate physiotherapists’ views on suitability, usability and factors affecting the use of remote physiotherapy in Finland. Design A cross-sectional, web-based questionnaire study. Subjects Members of the Finnish Association of Physiotherapists and a private physiotherapy organisation. Methods The questionnaire included questions on remote physiotherapy′s suitability (0 = not suitable at all to 10 = fully suitable) for different physiotherapy tasks (consultation, guidance and counselling, exercise, assessment and corrective act at the workplace), a reason to implement remote physiotherapy, how often remote physiotherapy is used at different stages of the physiotherapy process and factors affecting the use of remote physiotherapy. Results The response rate was 9.9% (N=662/6525; 76.1% female). The mean suitability ‘score’ for remote physiotherapy differed from 7.6 (consultation, guidance and counselling) to 3.8 (corrective act at a workplace). Physiotherapists with at least one year experience of working with remote physiotherapy reported that it is better suited to consultation, guidance and counselling, exercise and assessment (p-values <.05) than did those with less experience. Of the responders (physiotherapists), 72.5% used conventional physiotherapy, 7.2% used remote physiotherapy and 20.2% used a combination of the two as primary work method. Conclusion Physiotherapists stated that remote physiotherapy suits especially for consultation, guidance and counselling, but it is still minimally used as primary work method in different stages of the physiotherapy process.