Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T11:57:30.711Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Electronic smart-hub based intervention during COVID-19 in a rural Psychiatry of Old Age service in North-West Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2022

S. Patel ,
A. Gannon ,
M. Cryan ,
C. Dolan ,
C. Mcdonald ,
C. Houghton  and
G. Mccarthy
S. Patel
Affiliation:
University Hospital Galway, Psychiatry, Galway, Ireland NUI Galway, School Of Medicine, Galway, Ireland
A. Gannon
Affiliation:
Sligo Leitrim Mental Health Services, St. Columba’s Hospital, , Psychiatry, Sligo, Ireland
M. Cryan
Affiliation:
Sligo Leitrim Mental Health Services, St. Columba’s Hospital, , Psychiatry, Sligo, Ireland
C. Dolan
Affiliation:
NUI Galway, School Of Medicine, Galway, Ireland Sligo Leitrim Mental Health Services, St. Columba’s Hospital, , Psychiatry, Sligo, Ireland
C. Mcdonald
Affiliation:
University Hospital Galway, Psychiatry, Galway, Ireland NUI Galway, School Of Medicine, Galway, Ireland
C. Houghton
Affiliation:
NUI Galway, School Of Nursing And Midwifery, Galway, Ireland
G. Mccarthy*
Affiliation:
NUI Galway, School Of Medicine, Galway, Ireland Sligo Leitrim Mental Health Services, St. Columba’s Hospital, , Psychiatry, Sligo, Ireland
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions in services and necessitated innovation to continue care provision to the vulnerable population of older adults with psychiatric needs.

Objectives

The objective of this study was to examine the experiences of staff and patients using a hands-free electronic smart-hub (eSMART hub) intervention to keep patients connected with psychiatry of old age following COVID-19 restrictions.

Methods

A risk stratification register was created of all patients known to the Psychiatry of Old Age service in the North-West of Ireland to identify those at highest risk of relapse. These patients were offered a smart-hub with remote communication and personal assistant technology to be installed into their homes. Smart-hubs were also installed in the team base to facilitate direct device to device communication. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 10 staff members and 15 patients at 6-12 months following the installation of the smart-hubs.

Results

The smart-hubs were utilized by the POA team to offer remote interventions over video including clinician reviews, regular contact with key workers and day-hospital based therapeutic interventions such as anxiety management groups and OT led physical exercises. Patients also used the personal assistant aspect of the hub to attend to personal hobbies such as accessing music and radio. Positive feedback related to companionship during isolation and connectivity to services. Negative feedback was mainly related to technology, particularly internet access and narrow scope of communication abilities.

Conclusions

Electronic smart-hub devices may offer an acceptable avenue for remote intervention and communication for isolated high-risk older persons.

Disclosure

The smart hub devices used in this study were donated by Amazon. However, the company was not involved in any other aspect of the study and the researchers have no significant financial interest, consultancy or other relationship with products, manufactur

Keywords

Covid-19smart hubOlder Adultstechnology
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 65 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 30th European Congress of Psychiatry , June 2022 , pp. S654
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.