One response to “Evolving in the era of COVID-19”

  1. For homebound patients who are linked with home health (during COVID-19, and hopefully ongoing afterwards): it can be very helpful to do a virtual visit *during* the home care nursing visit. Nurses can help with many aspects of the virtual visit. Particularly helpful: they can perform a physical exam and report findings in real time.

    Coordinate a visit by communicating with your local home health team. Scheduling will depend on nursing availability and capacity; home health is quite busy these days!

    This is new practice / new technology for home health nurses also – but we are all learning fast.

    As a physician whose sole practice is visiting homebound patients, I am excited for us as a healthcare system to make good use of this technology. “Visiting” patients at home really helps me understand their lives so much better (challenges I could not have imagined, creative ways patients manage medications at home, how our instructions are interpreted, realities of caregiving – the list is endless). Virtual visits are definitely different than in-person home visits, but so far I have been impressed with how well the technology works (I do notice “paid” products work better than free ones).

    I hope increased, *appropriate* use of virtual-visiting technology now and in the future will enable us to provide better and more equitable care overall, especially for those who are homebound for all kinds of reasons.

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