With the correct supports in place, virtual review of transferred residents’ electronic medical records (EMRs) may help nursing home clinicians deliver continuity of care and effective interventions, according to a new study.
Investigators sought to assess a nurse-driven virtual care support project that was created to expand the OPTIMISTIC care model program through telehealth. OPTIMISTIC, which ran from 2012 to 2020, was developed to help prevent potentially unnecessary hospital transfers by improving care and communication within nursing facilities and between nursing homes and acute care institutions.
The eight nurses involved in piloting a virtual application of the OPTIMISTIC care model were responsible for reviewing the EMRs of newly transferred residents. This included checking on key information such as medication changes or dosage adjustments made during a hospital stay.
A number of factors were needed to ensure the project’s success, the nurses told investigators. These included a trusting relationship between the nurses and nursing home leadership and/or clinical staff; customization to help meet the needs of individual nursing homes; and consistent access to complete medical records in order to make timely recommendations specific to residents’ most current health status.
Although many nursing homes in the United States have implemented telehealth for various purposes, virtual care is not routinely used by nursing home staff to support resident care. But nurse-driven virtual care may help to prevent the hospitalizations and re-hospitalizations that can result in significantly reduced functioning and adverse health outcomes, said study co-author Kathleen T. Unroe, MD, MHA, of Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University School of Medicine.
“There are many times when nurses providing virtual clinical oversight can be helpful in acquiring information and filling workforce gaps,” she said in a statement.
For example, if discharge summaries about conditions such as a wound are not clearly documented upon admission and quickly entered into the long-term care facility’s system, this can lead to poor communication among clinical providers and result in additional hospitalizations, she said.
“Problems with transitions of care and concerns about clinical care in nursing homes are national issues,” Unroe concluded. “The findings of this paper are relevant to developing point-of-care models that can support the care of residents all over the country.”
Full findings were published in Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine.
For additional context regarding this story, visit McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.
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