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Employment of Telemedicine in Nursing Homes: Clinical Requirement Analysis, System Development and First Test Results
PURPOSE: Demographic change and lack of specialized workforces are challenging. Likewise, home visits by general practitioners (GPs) become rarer. If a nursing home resident develops acute symptoms, nurses are often inclined to call the rescue service. Besides patient-related consequences, this migh...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Dove
2020
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7443448/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32884251 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S260098 |
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author | Ohligs, Marian Stocklassa, Stephanie Rossaint, Rolf Czaplik, Michael Follmann, Andreas |
author_facet | Ohligs, Marian Stocklassa, Stephanie Rossaint, Rolf Czaplik, Michael Follmann, Andreas |
author_sort | Ohligs, Marian |
collection | PubMed |
description | PURPOSE: Demographic change and lack of specialized workforces are challenging. Likewise, home visits by general practitioners (GPs) become rarer. If a nursing home resident develops acute symptoms, nurses are often inclined to call the rescue service. Besides patient-related consequences, this might lead to unnecessary hospitalization and far-reaching health economic costs. Due to legal restrictions of remote treatment in Germany, which were recently loosened, telemedicine is still in the early stages. The aim of this study was to employ a holistic telemedical system for nursing homes which facilitates the connection to a GP and thus avoids unnecessary hospitalizations in the case of ambulatory-sensitive illnesses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: After an inter-professional requirement analysis, the iterative development was started. In addition to an audio-video connection, several point of care measurements were integrated. Finally, first field tests were performed in a nursing home in a rural area in Germany. RESULTS: One nursing home was equipped with telemedical system based on the results of the requirement analysis and tele-medically connected to a GP. Over a period of seven months, 56 routine and emergency teleconsultations took place. Only one of those required a hospital admission. In addition to video telephony, electrocardiography and assessment of vitals such as pulse, blood pressure, oxygen saturation and auscultation of heart and lungs were applied frequently. CONCLUSION: A telemedical system including integrated medical devices was successfully developed and has turned out to be helpful and even necessary for careful and reliable decision-making by the GP. First test results show high acceptance for elderly care. Involved patients, nurses, and the GP itemize various specific benefits, including economic, personal, and altruistic issues. Another issue that the current COVID-19 crisis brought to light is lowering the risk of contagion; GPs can replace their home visits by using telepresence combined with point of care measures. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7443448 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | Dove |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-74434482020-09-02 Employment of Telemedicine in Nursing Homes: Clinical Requirement Analysis, System Development and First Test Results Ohligs, Marian Stocklassa, Stephanie Rossaint, Rolf Czaplik, Michael Follmann, Andreas Clin Interv Aging Original Research PURPOSE: Demographic change and lack of specialized workforces are challenging. Likewise, home visits by general practitioners (GPs) become rarer. If a nursing home resident develops acute symptoms, nurses are often inclined to call the rescue service. Besides patient-related consequences, this might lead to unnecessary hospitalization and far-reaching health economic costs. Due to legal restrictions of remote treatment in Germany, which were recently loosened, telemedicine is still in the early stages. The aim of this study was to employ a holistic telemedical system for nursing homes which facilitates the connection to a GP and thus avoids unnecessary hospitalizations in the case of ambulatory-sensitive illnesses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: After an inter-professional requirement analysis, the iterative development was started. In addition to an audio-video connection, several point of care measurements were integrated. Finally, first field tests were performed in a nursing home in a rural area in Germany. RESULTS: One nursing home was equipped with telemedical system based on the results of the requirement analysis and tele-medically connected to a GP. Over a period of seven months, 56 routine and emergency teleconsultations took place. Only one of those required a hospital admission. In addition to video telephony, electrocardiography and assessment of vitals such as pulse, blood pressure, oxygen saturation and auscultation of heart and lungs were applied frequently. CONCLUSION: A telemedical system including integrated medical devices was successfully developed and has turned out to be helpful and even necessary for careful and reliable decision-making by the GP. First test results show high acceptance for elderly care. Involved patients, nurses, and the GP itemize various specific benefits, including economic, personal, and altruistic issues. Another issue that the current COVID-19 crisis brought to light is lowering the risk of contagion; GPs can replace their home visits by using telepresence combined with point of care measures. Dove 2020-08-18 /pmc/articles/PMC7443448/ /pubmed/32884251 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S260098 Text en © 2020 Ohligs et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php). |
spellingShingle | Original Research Ohligs, Marian Stocklassa, Stephanie Rossaint, Rolf Czaplik, Michael Follmann, Andreas Employment of Telemedicine in Nursing Homes: Clinical Requirement Analysis, System Development and First Test Results |
title | Employment of Telemedicine in Nursing Homes: Clinical Requirement Analysis, System Development and First Test Results |
title_full | Employment of Telemedicine in Nursing Homes: Clinical Requirement Analysis, System Development and First Test Results |
title_fullStr | Employment of Telemedicine in Nursing Homes: Clinical Requirement Analysis, System Development and First Test Results |
title_full_unstemmed | Employment of Telemedicine in Nursing Homes: Clinical Requirement Analysis, System Development and First Test Results |
title_short | Employment of Telemedicine in Nursing Homes: Clinical Requirement Analysis, System Development and First Test Results |
title_sort | employment of telemedicine in nursing homes: clinical requirement analysis, system development and first test results |
topic | Original Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7443448/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32884251 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S260098 |
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