TI-4 - Nursing Support: How Telemedicine Can Fill the Gap

Telemedicine will continue to play a pivotal role in senior care across the country. These cutting-edge services speed access to care and provide timely treatments that improve the quality of life for residents, while empowering local staff to deliver exceptional bedside care. This session will showcase how Bethany Home is partnering with Avel eCare to harness the value of telemedicine and channel its benefits to improve care for seniors living at their skilled nursing facilities. Bethany uses Avel eCare to provide immediate, around-the-clock access to a team of geriatric-trained clinicians - including physicians, providers, nurses, and more - who understand the unique needs of residents in skilled nursing facilities. In collaboration with facility staff, Avel eCare can accurately assess residents’ conditions remotely via a secure, two-way mobile video unit. Bethany has also worked with Avel to be on the cutting edge of rolling out new services and innovations, including Nursing Support. Their team has used telemedicine to take senior care to the next level. By harnessing the true potential of telemedicine, they have been able to provide staffing support for their nurses and offset the current RN workload through admission support, assessment support, and discharge support services. Over a 12-month period, Avel eCare Senior Care responded to more than 1,965 encounters per month across more than 65 facilities it services. 96 percent of these encounters were able to be treated at the site via telemedicine, avoiding unnecessary transfers, which can be traumatic for seniors, especially those suffering from memory loss.