E-mail-based health care in patients with dementia during the pandemic
Introduction/aimFrail and cognitively impaired older patients are particularly vulnerable groups during the pandemic. Lockdowns, social isolation, and physical inactivity considerably affect physical and mental wellbeing. During the pandemic process, routine medical checks and acute medical care ser...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-08-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.863923/full |
| _version_ | 1798038587354120192 |
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| author | Kubra Altunkalem Seydi Kubra Altunkalem Seydi Esra Ates Bulut Esra Ates Bulut Idil Yavuz Hemrin Kavak Hemrin Kavak Derya Kaya Derya Kaya Ahmet Turan Isik Ahmet Turan Isik |
| author_facet | Kubra Altunkalem Seydi Kubra Altunkalem Seydi Esra Ates Bulut Esra Ates Bulut Idil Yavuz Hemrin Kavak Hemrin Kavak Derya Kaya Derya Kaya Ahmet Turan Isik Ahmet Turan Isik |
| author_sort | Kubra Altunkalem Seydi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction/aimFrail and cognitively impaired older patients are particularly vulnerable groups during the pandemic. Lockdowns, social isolation, and physical inactivity considerably affect physical and mental wellbeing. During the pandemic process, routine medical checks and acute medical care services may be disrupted. The study aimed to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of telemedicine in the delivery of healthcare services to elderly patients during the pandemic.Materials and methodsE-mails sent to the e-mail address of the department of geriatrics, which has been actively used for 4 years, between April 2020 and June 2021, were retrospectively evaluated. The time and reason for each application, referral to the patients, demographic data of the patients, and chronic diseases were recorded. E-mail frequencies were considered monthly time series, and time series charts for e-mail frequencies from patients were produced.ResultsA total of 374 e-mails that 213 patients sent were assessed. A vast majority, 97.6% of the e-mails, were sent by proxies. The mean age of patients was 78.7 ± 8.1 years, and 59.2% were women. Hypertension and dementia were the most common comorbidities. The applications mostly occurred in April-May and October-November 2020. The most common complaint in dementia was behavioral disturbances (13.6%). Geriatric outpatient appointments were arranged for 29.9% of the applicants, 14.2% were referred to the emergency department, and 23.0% were offered medical treatment. Outpatient examination and treatment were completed in 15% of the patients and 10.4% of them were hospitalized. The time series charts showed that e-mails were sent more frequently by patients with dementia than the others (p = 0.03).ConclusionsTelemedicine, which enables many problems of patients to be solved in geriatric practice without face-to-face appointments, can also prevent infections and unnecessary hospitalizations, especially during these unusual pandemic days. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T21:42:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9a16e1ef3e134e5db61c0660979b9b67 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-0640 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T21:42:13Z |
| publishDate | 2022-08-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-9a16e1ef3e134e5db61c0660979b9b672022-12-22T04:01:33ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychiatry1664-06402022-08-011310.3389/fpsyt.2022.863923863923E-mail-based health care in patients with dementia during the pandemicKubra Altunkalem Seydi0Kubra Altunkalem Seydi1Esra Ates Bulut2Esra Ates Bulut3Idil Yavuz4Hemrin Kavak5Hemrin Kavak6Derya Kaya7Derya Kaya8Ahmet Turan Isik9Ahmet Turan Isik10Unit for Aging Brain and Dementia, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, TurkeyGeriatric Science Association, Izmir, TurkeyGeriatric Science Association, Izmir, TurkeyDepartment of Geriatric Medicine, Adana City Training and Research Hospital, Adana, TurkeyDepartment of Statistics, Faculty of Science, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, TurkeyUnit for Aging Brain and Dementia, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, TurkeyGeriatric Science Association, Izmir, TurkeyUnit for Aging Brain and Dementia, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, TurkeyGeriatric Science Association, Izmir, TurkeyUnit for Aging Brain and Dementia, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, TurkeyGeriatric Science Association, Izmir, TurkeyIntroduction/aimFrail and cognitively impaired older patients are particularly vulnerable groups during the pandemic. Lockdowns, social isolation, and physical inactivity considerably affect physical and mental wellbeing. During the pandemic process, routine medical checks and acute medical care services may be disrupted. The study aimed to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of telemedicine in the delivery of healthcare services to elderly patients during the pandemic.Materials and methodsE-mails sent to the e-mail address of the department of geriatrics, which has been actively used for 4 years, between April 2020 and June 2021, were retrospectively evaluated. The time and reason for each application, referral to the patients, demographic data of the patients, and chronic diseases were recorded. E-mail frequencies were considered monthly time series, and time series charts for e-mail frequencies from patients were produced.ResultsA total of 374 e-mails that 213 patients sent were assessed. A vast majority, 97.6% of the e-mails, were sent by proxies. The mean age of patients was 78.7 ± 8.1 years, and 59.2% were women. Hypertension and dementia were the most common comorbidities. The applications mostly occurred in April-May and October-November 2020. The most common complaint in dementia was behavioral disturbances (13.6%). Geriatric outpatient appointments were arranged for 29.9% of the applicants, 14.2% were referred to the emergency department, and 23.0% were offered medical treatment. Outpatient examination and treatment were completed in 15% of the patients and 10.4% of them were hospitalized. The time series charts showed that e-mails were sent more frequently by patients with dementia than the others (p = 0.03).ConclusionsTelemedicine, which enables many problems of patients to be solved in geriatric practice without face-to-face appointments, can also prevent infections and unnecessary hospitalizations, especially during these unusual pandemic days.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.863923/fullolder adultsdementiatelemedicineinformation technologyremote consultation |
| spellingShingle | Kubra Altunkalem Seydi Kubra Altunkalem Seydi Esra Ates Bulut Esra Ates Bulut Idil Yavuz Hemrin Kavak Hemrin Kavak Derya Kaya Derya Kaya Ahmet Turan Isik Ahmet Turan Isik E-mail-based health care in patients with dementia during the pandemic Frontiers in Psychiatry older adults dementia telemedicine information technology remote consultation |
| title | E-mail-based health care in patients with dementia during the pandemic |
| title_full | E-mail-based health care in patients with dementia during the pandemic |
| title_fullStr | E-mail-based health care in patients with dementia during the pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | E-mail-based health care in patients with dementia during the pandemic |
| title_short | E-mail-based health care in patients with dementia during the pandemic |
| title_sort | e mail based health care in patients with dementia during the pandemic |
| topic | older adults dementia telemedicine information technology remote consultation |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.863923/full |
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