MEETING AT THE CROSSROADS
SAEM PULSE | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2020
Telehealth and Geriatric Care
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Meeting at the Crossroads is a new column dedicated to bringing members of various SAEM interest groups and academies together to explore the areas where they intersect. In this inaugural column, Erica Olsen, MD, chair of the SAEM Telehealth Interest Group sits down with.James Kenny, MD, a member of SAEM’s Academy of Geriatric Emergency Medicine (AGEM) to discuss telehealth as a tool for delivering care to geriatric patients. Dr. Olsen: Thank you for meeting with me today. I think our first conversation on this topic took place after the spring COVID surge subsided in New York City and we realized that a significant number of our virtual urgent care visits came from geriatric patients (older than 65 years of age). Dr. Kenny: Yes, as we looked more closely at some of the patient characteristics, we saw that in several instances these geriatric patients had never accessed this telehealth service
previously, yet they were able to do so in the midst of a crisis. Dr. Olsen: Let’s talk about that for a minute… as a telehealth provider, I can say that from my experience, family members — either adult children and/or grandchildren — are sometimes involved in assisting geriatric patients with access. What is your take on that? Dr. Kenny: I think family members and caregivers can be valuable partners for older patients during telehealth visits. We have some preliminary data from
our emergency department (ED) that more than 40 percent of patients 65 years of age and older required some form of assistance during their telehealth encounter. Caregivers have the potential to help older patients navigate obstacles such as using unfamiliar technology, adjusting the audio for patients with hearing difficulties, and providing an accurate history for patients with dementia or other cognitive impairments. Dr. Olsen: I agree that family members were helpful. For those patients who do
