Reinventing Palliative Care Delivery in the Era of COVID-19: How Telemedicine Can Support End of Life Care

American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine - Tập 37 Số 11 - Trang 992-997 - 2020
Katherine Ritchey1,2, Alice Foy2, Erin McArdel3, David A. Gruenewald1,2
1Division of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA
2Palliative Care and Hospice Service, Geriatrics and Extended Care Service, Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Healthcare System, Seattle, WA, USA
3Chaplain Service, Palliative Care and Hospice Service, Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Healthcare System, Seattle, WA, USA

Tóm tắt

Telemedicine technology has become essential to healthcare delivery in the COVID-19 era, but concerns remain regarding whether the intimacy and communication that is central to high-quality palliative care will be compromised by the use of this technology. We employed a business model approach to identify the need for system innovation in palliative care, and a quality improvement approach to structure the project. Products from this project included a standard operating procedure for safe use of tablet computers for inpatient palliative care consultations and family visitations; tablet procurement with installation of video telehealth software; and training and education for clinical staff and other stakeholders. We describe a case illustrating the successful use of palliative care telehealth in the care of a COVID-19-positive patient at the end of life. Successful use of video telehealth for palliative care involved overcoming inertia to the development of telehealth infrastructure and learning clinical video telehealth skills; and engaging front-line care staff and family members who were open to a trial of telehealth for communication. Information gleaned from family about the patient as a person helped bedside staff to tailor care toward aspects meaningful to the patient and family and informed best practices to incorporate intimacy into future palliative video consultations and family visit.

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