Telehealth Palliative Care in Nursing Homes: A Scoping Review.

The review included only 11 studies, and they were very different in design, setting, and outcomes, so the findings cannot be pooled or used as strong evidence of effectiveness. Many included studies were small pilots, chart reviews, case reports, or one qualitative analysis, not large trials. The authors searched only for papers that self-identified as palliative care, so services described with other names may have been missed. The review did not include studies that reported only provider, staff, or stakeholder outcomes, so impacts on workforce or system feasibility were not assessed. Rural and under-resourced nursing homes were under-represented, so access and connectivity problems may differ outside urban settings. Most symptom assessments relied on nursing home staff rather than resident self-report, so resident experience may not have been captured directly.

The supplied text does not include a conflict-of-interest declaration. The publication types list research support from NIH and non-U.S. government sources.

Do not read this review as proof that telehealth palliative care improves nursing home resident outcomes. It included only 11 small and heterogeneous studies, and the reported results were mixed.