SHBC1077

G.MAGPANTAY¹, L.K.SIM¹, Y.J.LIM¹, C.H.YU¹, Q.W.TAN¹, Z.SITI¹, J.H.LEE¹, Q.Y.CHUA¹, W.K.CHIA¹, L.C.TAN¹, J.A.LOW¹

Khoo Teck Puat Hospital¹

Teleconsultations can provide urgent medical care to Nursing Home (NH) residents. However, the profiles and needs of residents accessing urgent teleconsultations from NH are not known.  Hence, this study aims to identify the profile of palliative and non-palliative residents and their reasons for urgent teleconsultation.

419 urgent teleconsultations with 8 NHs from January 2018 to May 2021 were studied. These NHs were part of GeriCare, an initiative of Yishun Health that provides teleconsultation and training to NH. The analyzed data included residents’ demographics, their profile, and their 3 months’ post teleconsultation outcomes.

Majority of the residents were male (55%) and Chinese (89.5%). The median of age range 48-108 was 78. The common reasons for teleconsultation of palliative residents (78%) were infections, terminal illnesses and cancer-related conditions while for non-palliative residents (28%), the common reasons were infections, warfarin titration, and behavioural symptoms of dementia.

The 3 months’ post teleconsultation outcomes showed that 69% of the palliative and 64 % of the non-palliative residents did not have any hospital admissions.   Most of the palliative residents (80%) had advance care plans done as compared with 18% of the non-palliative residents.   Palliative residents also had higher percentage of deaths (55%) than non-palliative residents (9%).

Our study shows that urgent teleconsultations are often used for conditions related to infections and palliative care. Healthcare providers should develop processes to support the needs of this group of residents such as access to antibiotics and symptomatic medications, and practice to identify residents’/families’ care preferences.