Harnessing New and Existing Virtual Platforms to Meet the Demand for Increased Inpatient Palliative Care Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A 5 Key Themes Literature Review of the Characteristics and Barriers of These Evolving Technologies.
Holly R Cherniwchan
PMID 34355581WHAT IT FOUND
Virtual inpatient palliative care was generally acceptable to patients, families and staff, supporting goals-of-care and end-of-life conversations when visitation was restricted.
It did not replace bedside presence, and nurses often carried technical and emotional work.
Key findings
01Most patients and staff found virtual inpatient palliative care acceptable, with reported acceptability from 70% to 100%, but most patients did not think it could replace a family member's presence at clinical rounds.
02Bedside nurses often helped patients use tablets while specialists joined virtually, and nursing staff generally became entirely responsible for bedside care without benefiting from the platform.
03Virtual platforms often cannot replace a family member's real presence at the bedside, and in-person consults are needed for people who are hard of hearing, have low vision, cannot use technology or need a physical exam.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a narrative review, not a systematic review, and the included articles were not judged for methodological quality. The included studies were heterogeneous and some were exploratory or descriptive, so the findings may not apply to all hospitals or hospice settings. The search stopped before later developments in virtual inpatient palliative care. The review reports acceptability, barriers and suggestions for practice, not tested effects on patient outcomes.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest and received no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that virtual inpatient palliative care improves patient outcomes or can routinely replace in-person end-of-life care. This is a narrative review of heterogeneous articles that were not quality-appraised, and it reports themes, acceptability and barriers rather than tested effects.