Early integration of palliative care in a long-term care home: A telemedicine feasibility pilot study.

Early integration of palliative care in a long-term care home: A telemedicine feasibility pilot study. Palliat Support Care. 2020 Feb 18;:1-8 Authors: Perri GA, Abdel-Malek N, Bandali A, Grosbein H, Gardner S Abstract OBJECTIVE: Palliative care plays an essential role in enhancing the quality of life and quality of death for residents in long-term care homes (LTCHs). Access to palliative care specialists is one barrier to providing palliative care to LTCHs. This project focused on palliative telemedicine, specifically evaluating whether integration of early palliative care specialist consultation into an LTCH would be feasible through the implementation of videoconferencing during routine interdisciplinary care conferences. METHOD: This was a mixed-methods evaluation of a pilot program implementation over 6 months, to integrate early palliative care into an LTCH. There were two pilot communities with a total of 61 residents. Resident demographics were collected by a chart review, and palliative telemedicine feasibility was evaluated using staff and family member surveys. RESULTS: For the 61 residents, the average age of the residents was 87 years, with 61% being female and 69% having dementia as the primary diagnosis. The mean CHESS (Change in Health, End-Stage Disease, Signs, and Symptoms) and ADL (Activities of Daily Living) scores were 0.8 and 4.0, respectively, with 54% having a Palliative Performance Scale score ...
Source: Palliative and Supportive Care - Category: Palliative Care Authors: Tags: Palliat Support Care Source Type: research