Optimizing Palliative Care at Home with Telemedicine
Author Information
Author(s): Duursma Froukje, Schers Henk J, Vissers Kris CP, Hasselaar Jeroen
Primary Institution: Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre
Hypothesis
The study aims to investigate the effectiveness of teleconsultation in complex palliative homecare.
Conclusion
The study will determine if telemedicine positively affects the symptom burden of palliative patients at home.
Supporting Evidence
- Teleconsultation is an innovative approach to deliver quality of care for palliative patients at home.
- The primary outcome of patient symptom burden is assessed using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS).
- The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of teleconsultation on the symptom burden of palliative patients at home.
Takeaway
This study is trying to see if talking to doctors through video calls can help people who are very sick feel better while staying at home.
Methodology
A two-armed cluster randomized controlled trial involving GPs and palliative patients, assessing symptom burden and other outcomes through various questionnaires.
Potential Biases
Possible bias at the level of GPs due to clustering.
Limitations
Challenges include enrolling a sufficiently large sample and potential recruitment problems.
Participant Demographics
Dutch-speaking patients, aged 18 years or older, with a progressive oncological disease and a Karnofsky Performance Scale score of ≤ 60.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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