Home-Based Video Telemedicine for Dementia Management.

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Persons with dementia face barriers to attending in-person medical care. Despite the potential for video telemedicine to ameliorate these barriers, little is known about in-home video telemedicine for dementia.Methods: Outpatients of a dementia clinic were invited to participate in in-home video telemedicine, and reasons for enrolling or declining were tracked. Visit experience was directly compared between in-person and video visits.Results: Of 230 families invited to enroll in video telemedicine, 96% agreed to join or gave reasons for declining, with the primary reasons for participating being convenience and less disruption of routines. Lack of a computer was the main reason for declining. Those who agreed to participate and those who declined were demographically similar in terms of race and education, but slightly younger in the telemedicine group (patient mean age 79 v 84). Equivalent visit satisfaction was reported between in-person and video telemedicine.Conclusions: Persons with dementia and their families were willing to enroll in an in-home telemedicine clinic. Satisfaction with home visits was high and equal to in-clinic visits.Clinical implications Video telemedicine is a promising dementia service delivery model for rural patients and others for whom travel to a specialty clinic is burdensome.Abbreviations ADL Activities of Daily Living; Home-CVT Home Clinical Video Telehealth; iADL Instrumental Activity of Daily Living; GRECC The New England Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center; IM Instant Messaging; LTC long term care; THT Telehealth Technician; VA Veterans Affairs; VAMC Veterans Affairs Medical Center.