Translating in-person care to telehealth: analysis of GP consultations on musculoskeletal conditions.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led to a rapid transition to telehealth particularly in general practice (GP) where continuous care for chronic conditions such as musculoskeletal (MSK) is provided.

Aim: To determine the appropriateness of telehealth for MSK by identifying whether in-person tasks can be supported remotely via telehealth.

Design & setting: This study is a secondary analysis of the HaRI dataset. This dataset comprises of 281 videos of recorded GP consultations. The data set includes 10 general practitioners, across 8 separate clinics and was collected during 2017 in the United Kingdom.

Method: Content analysis was conducted to identify the clinical tasks, physical examinations and physical artefacts used during the consultations. A scoring method applying two key metrics was developed to assess the translatability of clinical tasks to telehealth.

Results: Across the 31 MSK consultations analysed, 12 clinical tasks, five physical examinations and 12 physical artefacts were observed. Of clinical tasks, 17% (2/12) were deemed to be 'easily translatable over telehealth' and 50% (5/12) were deemed 'relatively easy to be translated over telehealth'. Only 17% (2/12) of tasks were rated 'moderately translatable over telehealth', and 17% (2/12) were deemed 'potentially translatable over telehealth'. No clinical tasks in this study were categorised as untranslatable to telehealth. The average telehealth translatability score was 7.1/10.

Conclusion: Most clinical tasks observed during in-person GP consultations with MSK patients are translatable to telehealth. Further research is necessary to investigate the long-term efficacy and safety of telehealth utilisation for MSK in primary care.