Nursing Home-Sensitive Hospitalizations and the Relevance of Telemedicine: A Scoping Review

Maria Paula Valk-Draad () and Sabine Bohnet-Joschko
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Maria Paula Valk-Draad: Chair of Health Care Management and Innovation, Faculty of Management, Economics, and Society, Witten/Herdecke University, Alfred-Herrhausen-Str. 50, 58448 Witten, Germany
Sabine Bohnet-Joschko: Chair of Health Care Management and Innovation, Faculty of Management, Economics, and Society, Witten/Herdecke University, Alfred-Herrhausen-Str. 50, 58448 Witten, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-23

Abstract: The aging of society is increasing the number of hospitalizations of nursing home residents. Telemedicine might help reduce the frequency of these potentially risk-associated hospitalizations. This scoping review looked for evidence of a change in the rate of hospitalization and, if mentioned, any cost savings and/or staff acceptance of the use of telemedicine in a nursing home setting. To identify available evidence, the electronic databases PubMed, Livivo, EBSCO and JSTOR were searched (without time or regional constraints) for comparative primary research studies on this topic in peer-reviewed journals. A total of 1127 articles were retrieved and 923 titles and abstracts were screened, with 16 studies published between 2001 and 2022 being included. Telemedicine consultation reduced the hospitalization of nursing home residents in 14/16 and care costs in 8/11 articles. Staff satisfaction was mentioned positively in five studies. Most studies used telemedicine involving medical diagnostic technologies (10), (electronic) health records (9), specialists (9) and specialized nursing staff (11). Few studies had a higher level of evidence: only one randomized clinical trial was included. There is the need for high credibility studies, using guidelines on protocol and reporting, to better understand the hindering and facilitating factors of telemedicine provision in the healthcare of nursing home residents.

Keywords: telemedicine; telehealth; nursing home; nursing home resident; full inpatient; long-term care; hospitalization; intervention; implementation science; scoping review (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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