Background: COVID-19 has disproportionately affected older people. Visiting restrictions introduced since the start of the pandemic in residential care facilities (RCFs) may impact negatively on visitors including close family, friends, and guardians. We examined the effects of COVID-19 visiting restrictions on measures of perceived loneliness, well-being, and carer quality of life (QoL) amongst visitors of residents with and without cognitive impairment (CI) in Irish RCFs. Conclusion: This survey suggests that many RCF visitors experienced low psychosocial and emotional well-being during the COVID-19 lockdown. Visitors of residents with CI report significantly poorer well-being as measured by the WHO-5 than those without. Additional research is required to understand the importance of disrupted caregiving roles resulting from visiting restrictions on well-being, particularly on visitors of residents with CI and how RCFs and their staff can support visitors to mitigate these.
Introduction
The COVID‐19 pandemic caused an unprecedented impact to haemophilia healthcare delivery. In particular, rapid implementation of telehealth solutions was required to ensure continued access to comprehensive care.
Aims
To explore patient and healthcare provider (HCP) experience of telehealth in a European Haemophilia Comprehensive Care Centre.
Method
A systematic evaluation was performed to survey patient and HCP experience and compare clinical activity levels with telehealth to in‐person attendances.
Results
Public health measures implemented in March 2020 to reduce COVID‐19 spread resulted in a 63% decrease in medical/nursing clinic consultation activity compared to the same period in 2019. Implementation of digital care pathways resulted in marked increase in activity (52% greater than 2019). Importantly, enhanced patient engagement was noted, with a 60% reduction in non‐attendance rates. Survey of patients who had participated in medical/nursing teleconsultations demonstrated that teleconsultations improved access (79%), reduced inconvenience (82%), was easy to use (94%) and facilitated good communication with the HCP (97%). A survey exploring the telemedicine experience of HCPs, illustrated that HCPs were satisfied with teleconsultation and the majority (79%) would like to continue to offer teleconsultation as part of routine patient care. In addition to medical/nursing reviews, continued access to physiotherapy with virtual exercise classes for people with haemophilia and teleconsultation for acute dental issues was equally successful.
Conclusion
During an unprecedented public health emergency, telehealth has enabled continued access to specialized haemophilia comprehensive care. Our novel findings show that this alternative is acceptable to both patients and HCPs and offers future novel opportunities.
Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND (2) Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND (3) Final approval of the version to be published; AND (4) Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.Funding and support: By Annals policy, all authors are required to disclose any and all commercial, financial, and other relationships in any way related to the subject of this article as per ICMJE conflict of interest guidelines (see www.icmje.org). The authors have stated that no such relationships exist.
Many factors influence the oral health status of cats and dogs. The present study aimed to elucidate the influence of feeding homeprepared (HP) food v. commercial pet food on oral health parameters in these animals and to investigate the effect of home oral hygiene on oral health. The study surveyed 17 184 dogs and 6371 cats visiting over
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