Telerehabilitation for Older Adults: Physiotherapist-Led Exercise by Video

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who work with community-dwelling older adults in outpatient, home health or community settings and who deliver or are considering delivering supervised exercise by videoconference.

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants in outpatient, home health, community and cardiopulmonary rehabilitation settings.

Intended audience

Physical Therapy

Level

Introductory

Delivery format

Online, asynchronous, self-paced course: interactive reading with audio or video, and a scored post-test.

Based on

This course is based on a single source: a systematic review and meta-analysis of physiotherapist-led, exercise-based telerehabilitation delivered by synchronous videoconferencing to community-dwelling older adults. The review searched CINAHL, Medline, PubMed and the Cochrane Library from the earliest available date to August 2022, was registered in advance in PROSPERO, and was reported using PRISMA guidance. Eleven studies with 1,400 participants met the criteria, 10 of them randomised trials. Methodological quality was rated with the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale and certainty of evidence with the GRADE approach.

Every claim in this course traces to that review. Where the review was uncertain, this course says so. No outside sources, clinical opinions or practice recommendations have been added.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. Describe the population, intervention and comparison groups examined in this systematic review of physiotherapist-led, exercise-based telerehabilitation for older adults.
2. State what the review reported about safety, adherence, patient outcomes and health service costs when telerehabilitation was compared with face-to-face physiotherapy and with no intervention.
3. Explain the limitations the authors identified and how those limits shape the confidence a clinician can place in the review's conclusions.

1. Start Here: How This Course Works
2. Podcast: Exercise by Video for Older Adults (about nine minutes)
3. Why Telerehabilitation Was Studied in Older Adults
4. How the Review Was Built: Searching, Screening and Grading
5. What the Trials Found: Safety, Adherence, Function and Cost
6. Where the Evidence Falls Short
7. What This Could Mean for Community Practice
8. Key Takeaways
9. Post-Test and Course Evaluation

Quinn Millington, PT, DPT, ECS is the instructor of record: the licensed clinician who reviewed this course and signed off on it. The name and credentials print on the certificate.

Disclosures. This course was developed by The ConEd Solution, which has a financial interest in its sale. No outside funding or sponsorship was received. The instructor of record has no affiliation with the authors of the source publication or their institutions.

This course awards 0.5 contact hours (30 min). How you earn them:

1. Complete the course. Every lesson, in order.
2. Pass the post-test. Score 80% or higher. Retakes are allowed.
3. Complete the evaluation. A short form rating each learning objective and the course.
4. Download your certificate. It is issued on completion and stays available in My Account.

The episode time is its measured length. Reading, post-test and evaluation times are estimates.

This course is designed to satisfy the quality requirements state boards set for continuing education. Requirements vary by state, and confirming that a course fits your renewal is up to you. Each state’s own acceptance statement is in the credit panel on this page.

1. This course is based on a single source: a systematic review and meta-analysis of physiotherapist-led, exercise-based telerehabilitation delivered by synchronous videoconferencing to community-dwelling older adults. The review searched CINAHL, Medline, PubMed and the Cochrane Library from the earliest available date to August 2022, was registered in advance in PROSPERO, and was reported using PRISMA guidance. Eleven studies with 1,400 participants met the criteria, 10 of them randomised trials. Methodological quality was rated with the Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale and certainty of evidence with the GRADE approach.
2. Every claim in this course traces to that review. Where the review was uncertain, this course says so. No outside sources, clinical opinions or practice recommendations have been added.