Impact of telehealth video visits on adult family home residents' rehospitalization

Here are the instructions from my university: I am a Masters of Nursing - Family nurse practitioner student

Write a paper of 500-750 words (not including the title page and reference page) on your proposed problem description for your EBP project. The paper should address the following:

1.Describe the background of the problem. Tell the story of the issue and why it deserves attention. Identify the stakeholders/change agents and who or what organizations are concerned, may benefit from, or are affected by this proposal. List the interested parties, patients, students, agencies, Joint Commission, etc.

Use the feedback from this week’s (Week 2) Discussion Boardpost,and refine your PICOT question for the final proposal. Make sure that the question fits with your graduate degree specialization.



2.State the purpose or goal and project objectives in specific, realistic, and measurable terms. The objective should address what is to be gained. This is a restatement of the question, providing focus on how to answer the question.



3.Provide supportive rationale that the problem or issue is an important one for nursing to resolve; use relevant professional literature sources.



4.Develop an initial reference list to assure that there is adequate literature to support your evidence-based practice project. The majority of references should be research articles. However, national sources such as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Department of Health and Human Resources (HHS), or the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and others may be used when you are gathering statistics to provide the rationale for the problem.Once you get into the literature, you may find there is very little research to support your topic and you will have to start all over again. Remember, in order for this to be an evidence-based project, you must have enough evidence to introduce this as a desired practice change. If you find that you do not have enough supporting evidence to change a practice,further research would need to be conducted.



The grading guidelines for this assignment are in the rubric section of this syllabus.Upon receiving feedback from the instructor, refine Section B: Problem Description for your final submission. This is a continuous process throughout the course for each section



Problem Description:



The Impact of Telehealth Video Visits on Adult Family Home Residents Rehospitalization



Adults are surviving later into life, which increases the rate of the elderly adult suffering from chronic illnesses. Currently, of those considered within the geriatric population, “80 percent have at least one and 50 percent have at least two chronic conditions” (Heflin, 2021, para. 2). Elderly residents living in adult family homes (AFH), particularly those considered chronically ill are at risk of increased hospital readmissions; telemedicine is a tool that should be used for chronic disease management (Ong et al., 2021).



PICOT Question



In residents living in adult family homes diagnosed as chronically ill, (Problem) how does the use of telemedicine virtual visits (Intervention) compare to in-person clinic visits (Comparison) reduce hospital readmission rates (Outcome) over 6 months after the intervention (T)?



During the COVID-19 pandemic many of the adult family home residents missed appointments at their primary care and specialty providers because there was no telehealth video visit or the adult family home staff would not sit in on a video visit, or did not have the right equipment (smart phone, laptop) to complete the visit.



Resource on adult family homes - https://www(dot)dshs(dot)wa(dot)gov/altsa/residential-care-services/about-adult-family-homes



Feedback from my peers:

According to previous research, 68 percent of home health patients readmitted within 30 days of hospital discharge were readmitted within the first 14 days of receiving home health services, emphasizing the importance of early and focused intervention. One such targeted interference is telehealth (O'Connor et al., 2016). Mechanic, Persaud & Kimball (2017) assert that chronic diseases account for 75% of all medical costs. It is suggested that hospital readmissions' financial burden can be minimized by tracking patients at home, ensuring medication adherence through electronic means, and providing easy access to a physician. This is a great topic to address, and I found several studies that could answer your question. I also think that your PICOT question was clearly defined, and all the aspects of the questions were listed.



References



Mechanic, O.J., Persaud, Y., & Kimball, A. B. (2020). Telehealth systems. Retrieved from https://europepmc(dot)org/article/NBK/nbk459384



O/Connor, M., Asdornwised, U., Dempsey, M. L., Huffenberger, A., Jost, S., Flynn, D., & Norris, A. (2016). Using telehealth to reduce all-cause 30-day hospital readmissions among heart failure patients receiving skilled home health services. Applied clinical informatics, 7(2), 238-247. https://doi(dot)org/10.4338/ACI-2015-11-SOA-0157



I am interested in the results of your research. Over the last several years, the use of telemedicine has become more common and has increased exponentially over the last year due to the COVID pandemic. Telemedicine has been beneficial for underserved areas or rural healthcare facilities where some specialties may not be readily available. The ability of telemedicine to fill this void is crucial for providing emergent care where it may not otherwise be available. Telehealth evaluations have been utilized for neurology, psychiatry and pediatrics in some rural care facilities where I practice.



Telehealth has become more widely utilized due to the pandemic in the last year. Even primary care and specialty clinics are utilizing telehealth with positive outcomes. One study published in Reuters evaluated the glycemic control for pediatric Type I Diabetic patients in Israel and evidence that the children achieved better results following a telehealth visit when compared to the two weeks prior to the visit with their provider (Crist, 2021). Of the individuals who participated, over 85% percent reported a substantial benefit from the telehealth visit and a desire to combine in-person visits with telehealth visits in the future (Crist, 2021).



Reference



Crist, C. (2021). Telehealth Visits During Pandemic Helped Young Patients With Type I Diabetes in Israel. Retrieved from https://www(dot)medscape(dot)com/viewarticle/946200



I am also including my adaptations to the last paper you assisted me within the uploads on the Organizational Culture and Readiness Assessment - so you know a little more about the clinic I am writing about.