Ms Amber Jones^1,2, Dr Clare Burns^1,2, Prof  Elizabeth Ward^2,3, Ms Andrea  Mc Kittrick¹

¹Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital (RBWH), Metro North Health, Brisbane, Australia, ²School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, ³Centre for Functioning and Health Research, Metro South Health, Brisbane, Australia

Abstract:

Background & Aim: Whilst there is emerging evidence for the use of telehealth for burn care, there are no published clinical frameworks to guide occupational therapy (OT) adult burn care via telehealth. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a framework for OT burn telehealth services.

Methods: A “Plan, Do, Study, Act” cycle was used to develop the clinical framework for OT burn telehealth services. In the “Plan” phase, Allied Health Burn Rehabilitation Practice Guidelines, and telerehabilitation guidelines informed service development. In the “Do” phase, four clinical tasks were designed for delivery via telehealth: scar assessment, compression garment review, scar massage, contact media review. In the “Study” phase, telehealth delivery of these tasks was trialled within an outpatient service. All sessions were directed by an OT, with patients located either at home, or in a healthcare facility with another OT present. The effectiveness of the clinical framework was determined by clinician judgement of session success. In the “Act” phase, ongoing refinements were made until the final framework was confirmed.

Results: The clinical framework was developed and evaluated over 100 sessions. Multiple refinements were made to the telehealth service model in the initial sessions. Clinician feedback indicated that the telehealth model enabled them to adequately complete the key clinical tasks.

Conclusion: Using an iterative process, a clinical framework to effectively deliver key OT burn care clinical tasks via telehealth was developed, with positive clinician feedback. This clinical framework has now been implemented within the RBWH burns telehealth service.

Biography:

Amber Jones has worked within the RBWH Professor Stuart Pegg Adult Burn Centre since 2005. She is an invited member of the International Society for Burn Injuries (ISBI) Rehabilitation Committee and is currently undertaking a PhD to develop and evaluate a telehealth model for the delivery of multidisciplinary burn care.