clinical practice
Facing the facts
Research suggests telehealth can ’ t replace inperson palliative care .
By Elise Hartevelt
As the pandemic fostered the demand for telehealth , a team of researchers asked themselves whether it stood a chance in replacing real-life palliative care services .
Following 130 palliative care patients , the researchers ’ two studies revealed that 91 per cent of patients and doctors thought telehealth was acceptable and 72 per cent said it was satisfactory in most situations .
Professor Jennifer Philip from the University of Melbourne said it offers new
20 | nursingreview . com . au opportunities but can ’ t substitute in-person palliative care .
“ We were a little surprised to find such high satisfaction rates , particularly in people living in rural and remote parts of Australia ,” she said .
“ Telehealth served well when it was a routine check-up and health was stable .
“ But when someone was experiencing a lot of pain and distress , people said that telehealth was insufficient to address the issues properly .”
Nursing Review asked Jennifer what patients enjoyed about using telehealth during their palliative care meet-ups , and what aspects were still lacking in replacing the personal doctor-to-patient connection .
NR : How did you come by the connection between palliative care and telehealth , and what did you find in your study ? JP : Like everyone else with the lockdowns across Australia , telehealth became something we previously had small amounts of experience with . But suddenly , we had to use telehealth in all care provisions .
It was interesting to think how this would be adopted and adapted to palliative care . A lot of what we do is around relationshipbuilding and helping people explore their understanding of the illness , what ’ s going on , and what they hope for .
These are often reasonably important existential things , so having a good relationship between doctor