[Usefulness and acceptance of telephone monitoring by a virtual assistant for patients with COVID-19 following discharge]. / Utilidad y aceptación del seguimiento telefónico de un asistente virtual a pacientes COVID-19 tras el alta.

COVID-19 has placed a significant burden on the healthcare system, making it necessary to implement new tools that allow patients to be monitored remotely and guarantee quality and continuity of care. The usefulness and acceptance by patients of a virtual caregiver designed for follow-up in the month following hospital discharge for COVID-19 are evaluated. The virtual assistant, based on voice and artificial intelligence technology, made telephone calls at 48 hours, seven days, 15 days, and 30 days after discharge and asked five questions about the patient's health. If the answer to any of the questions was affirmative, it generated an alert that was transferred to a healthcare professional One hundred patients were included in the project and 85 alerts were generated in 45 of the patients, most at one month after hospital discharge. The nursing staff resolved 94% of them by telephone. Patient satisfaction with the virtual caregiver was high.

Usefulness and acceptance of telephone monitoring by a virtual assistant for patients with COVID-19 following discharge.

COVID-19 has placed a significant burden on the healthcare system, making it necessary to implement new tools that allow patients to be monitored remotely and guarantee quality and continuity of care. The usefulness and acceptance by patients of a virtual caregiver designed for follow-up in the month following hospital discharge for COVID-19 are evaluated. The virtual assistant, based on voice and artificial intelligence technology, made telephone calls at 48 h, seven days, 15 days, and 30 days after discharge and asked five questions about the patient's health. If the answer to any of the questions was affirmative, it generated an alert that was transferred to a healthcare professional One hundred patients were included in the project and 85 alerts were generated in 45 of the patients, most at one month after hospital discharge. The nursing staff resolved 94% of them by telephone. Patient satisfaction with the virtual caregiver was high.

[Conservative management in elderly patients with advanced chronic kidney disease].

The poor health outcomes of Renal Replacement Therapy (RRT) in the elderly has promoted Conservative Management (CM) as a therapeutic option in advanced chronic kidney disease. However, there is still a lack of evidence about prognosis of these patients; thus, the aim was to analyze the survival rate of elderly patients under CM and RRT and evaluate the variables related to the initiation of such treatments in clinical practice. METHODS: Prospective cohort study of RRT and CM patients >75años. Renal function parameters and geriatric assessments were carried out. This evaluation included: analysis of comorbidity, functional, cognitive, frailty, nutritional and socio-family status. RESULTS: Cohort of 37 RRT and 82 CM patients. CM patients were significantly older, with more frequency of history of vascular event, more comorbility (Charlson), worse functional situation (Barthel), higher risks of cognitive impairment (Pfeiffer) and malnutrition (MNA-SF), and higher frailty and socio-familiar impairment. Mortality rate was lower in RRT patients (8.72 vs. 3/1,000 patients/month; HR= 0.37, p=0.018), but survival advantage reduced drastically after adjustment for the different geriatric syndromes analyzed. CONCLUSIONS: Charlson's comorbidity was found to be an independent mortality predictor in elderly patients with advanced chronic kidney disease. Dialysis did not improve survival with respect to conservative treatment in patients with Charlson higher than 8 points.