Staying connected through telepractice

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Telepractice today

Regardless of our profession, title, or location, we all have one thing in common — a need to stay connected. As we begin to move forward into our collective “new normal”, maintaining that connection to those depending on you is paramount, and in many cases telepractice may be the answer you’re searching for.

If you are implementing or considering telepractice, please consult your professional organizations, licensing boards, professional liability insurance providers, and state laws and regulations regarding telepractice. Please review this additional information before proceeding.

We’ve compiled a number of resources to help support your telepractice needs. Here you’ll find How-To's, information on using specific products, administration tutorials, and a Newsroom with updates, news, and announcements about the latest developments in telepractice.

Check out our Newsroom for updates & announcements

Already familiar with telepractice?

Pearson has a growing number of products that may be appropriately used for telepractice under certain conditions.

View telepractice products

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What is telepractice (a.k.a. telemedicine or telehealth)?

In short, telepractice allows for continuity of care when in-person sessions are not practical or feasible.

Whether you’re familiar with it as telepractice, telehealth, telemedicine, remote testing – the common theme this: our customers want to know how to continue to deliver clinical, speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, behavioral health, and psychoeducational tools and assessments to students and clients at home.

Telepractice links clinician to client or clinician to clinician for assessment, intervention, and/or consultation via telecommunications. It includes a growing variety of applications and services using two-way video, email, smart phones, wireless tools, and other forms of telecommunications technology.

Read more

Over the past several months, the landscape of healthcare has drastically changed. The term “social distancing” has become a part of our vernacular — seemingly overnight — and as a large majority of the world has found ways to maintain some physical distance, there are many, like you, who are searching for ways to provide care to those who need it. Telepractice can help you do just that.

Watch an example of intervention and assessment within a telepractice session from Pearson's Connections Education group

In 2010, the American Telemedicine Association published a sample set of guidelines for telepractice.

A Blueprint for Telerehabilitation Guidelines

How does telepractice work?

Step 1: Understand your guidelines and requirements

While it may not be the part of the process you look forward to the most, before you dive into telepractice you are responsible for understanding guidelines and requirements from your national professional association (e.g., APA, AOTA, ASHA, NASP, AMA, or educational organization) as well as state laws and regulations for your practice, and for assessment specifically (links can typically be found through your state organizations’ websites).

Consult your national professional organization’s website to find guidelines and considerations for providing ethical and effective telepractice services. Some professional organizations have provided links to state licensing board requirements for telepractice, as requirements vary by state.

For further detail on professional organizations response to COVID-19, please see the following resources:

Step 2: Choose a platform

Take a close look at different teleconferencing services/packages that provide a picture-in-picture display and online tools that enable you to share your screen, use annotation tools, etc.) Confirm that the teleconferencing platform package that your work site is considering has features that enable you to meet HIPAA and FERPA requirements (e.g., encrypted transmission, secure login/access). Typically, Facebook and Skype are not secure sites for delivering telepractice services and would violate HIPAA and FERPA requirements for secure transmission, however, current events have led many public, private, and governmental organizations to temporarily relax their security guidelines to allow practitioners to continue to serve their clients.

Practitioners are still responsible for:

Performing a risk analysis as part of security management processes
Maintaining secured hard copies of documents on file (“secured” = “locked”) so that the information is only accessible/visible to authorized individuals
Ensuring that hardware/software has security features so that
- files transmitted electronically are using secure systems (encrypted);
- only authorized individuals are present in sessions (secure login);
- and confidentiality is maintained regarding the client’s information and records.

In general, numerous platform options exist. It’s often possible to access a trial version of a platform before you choose the one that best fits your needs.

Pearson Clinical Assessment currently has several global telepractice platform partners that house some of our assessment content for research and/or commercial use:

PresenceLearning
Coviu
eLuma

Step 3: Before conducting your first assessment

Again, best practice includes checking your professional organization’s website for training information, continuing education, professional resources, and/or participation in special interest groups within the organization.

Before conducting your first assessments, you will need to:

Practice administering each assessment you use in a telepractice environment before you test your first examinee.
Identify appropriate candidates for a remote test administration.
Prepare the facilitator who will be with the examinee at the remote site (if applicable).
Troubleshoot basic connection or technical issues.
Practice, practice, practice!

Five Factors: Considerations for a positive assessment administration

Telepractice environment/equipment
- Establish a quiet setting free from distractions.
- Use a headset with a boom mic.
- Discontinue testing if tech issues persist.
Assessment Procedures & Materials
- Manage stimulus materials.
- Verify ability to record examinee’s responses.
Examinee Considerations
- Think about examinee testing needs.
- Give the examinee breaks to play a game or have a discussion.
- Ensure only authorized individuals are present in the session.
- Try to minimize distractions such as phones, other children, loud noises, etc.
- Consider any special testing needs.
Examiner Considerations
- Be prepared.
- Be clear on directions to examinees.
Other Considerations
- Consider the purpose of evaluation/clinical context.
- Identify type of assessment (screening, diagnostic, progress monitoring).

Step 4: Conducting your first assessment

There are a few ways you can continue to provide support for your clients/students through telepractice.

1. Q-global — Remote On-Screen Administration (ROSA)

If you are currently using Q-global to score tests you administer using paper protocols, then you first need to determine whether you (or your organization) has purchased Scoring Subscriptions or Score Reports/ Report Usages to accomplish this scoring.

Only Score Reports/ Report Usages allow you to generate score reports for tests that are administered using Remote On-Screen Administration (ROSA). Scoring Subscriptions provide you with scoring ability only for tests which you administer in paper format and manually enter item responses into Q-global. Depending on the type of assessment, you have two options:

Send the assessment in advance of a telepractice session and have the client fill it out on their own.
Send the assessment during your telepractice session so you can monitor the client while they are filling it out.

Remote On-Screen Administration

2. Q-global – Digital Administration Materials in the Resource Library

The Q-global Resource Library holds a multitude of digital stimulus books, manuals, and additional administration materials for your use in telepractice contexts. To use the stimulus books and other administration materials remotely, refer to the guidance in the “Using Your Digital Assets on Q-global” file in the Resource Library General folder for those products that have digital assets. Details about accessing these assets for a greatly reduced cost is available on our Q-global page.

Watch one of our on-demand tutorials to see how Q-global can help you stay connected when you can’t meet face-to-face.

Q-global training Q-global Demo

3. Q-interactive

If you already have a Q-interactive subscription, you can provide remote administration by following these instructions:

Log into QI Central and create or select a client.
Assign assessment(s) to the client and send to the iPad.
Log into QI Assess on the iPads.
Log into a telepractice platform (e.g., Zoom, Hangouts, etc.)
Mirror the client/examinee iPad on to your computer.
Screenshare the mirrored client/examinee iPad on your computer through your telepractice platform to show the stimulus item(s).
Advance through the test items, following prompts on the practitioner iPad.
Record the examinee response (verbal, by use of the mouse, or visual touch documented by facilitator) to each item on the client iPad.

Please note that this scenario requires significant technical skill, additional software, and extensive practice.

Step 5: After the assessment

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Staying connected through telepractice