Virtual care for the elderly.
OTN
In my previous post I reviewed some of the ways Telemedicine is being used across the province to support care of the elderly. In this post I’ll review findings from articles that explore the use and benefits of telemedicine in geriatrics.
A recent article published by Baycrest, compares a face-to-face session versus a telemedicine session for clinic-based group cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with adults who suffer from depression and anxiety. The results of which show that group CBT can be delivered in a technology... | |
There are tremendous opportunities for telemedicine use in the care of the elderly in both urban and rural settings. Typically, as people age they become mentally and physically infirm, which can make travelling distances problematic. This makes care of the elderly ideally suited for multiple streams of telemedicine.
OTN’s early applications of telemedicine for the elderly were to support elderly people in long-term care homes. Initially, OTN worked with long-term care homes to enable video, which allowed providers to consult over Videoconference and eliminated the need for the resident to travel. This was quickly adopted into cognitive assessments with geriatric psychiatry. Videoconferencing lends itself well to people who need... | |
Ontario’s aging population presents major challenges to our healthcare system. Among these is a growing knowledge gap on how to properly care for the province's elders.
Caregivers today face complex and challenging issues, often with limited training and support. They may battle complications associated with dementia, frailty, falls, drug interactions and more. In Living Longer, Living Well, a report to inform the Ontario Seniors Strategy, Dr. Samir Sinha, provincial lead, Ontario Seniors Strategy, addresses the need for us to support a skilled health, social, and community care workforce.
“Our... | |
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