Abstract
Older people with memory problems who live in a remote area encounter significant barriers in terms of time and distance to permit their attendance at a memory disorder clinic. Most multi-disciplinary cognitive clinics operate in cities or larger regional towns. The barrier of distance can be reduced through the use of video conferencing, which enables a specialist working in a city to consult with a remote patient in their home town.
A telegeriatric memory disorder service has been trialled at Mt. Isa as part of an overall strategy to develop telegeriatric services for rural and remote areas. Patients are referred to the service by the Aged Care Assessment Service based at the Mount Isa Base Hospital. On the day of the consultation, a trained health professional administers a panel of standardised cognitive assessments to the patient. These assessments are faxed, along with other clinically relevant details, to the medical specialist based in Brisbane. The specialist then interviews the patient and their carer using video conference technology. In parallel with this project, a pilot study has been conducted to assess the inter-rater reliability between face-to-face medical specialist assessments and video conference assessments. This project has been carried out at the Geriatric and Rehabilitation Unit at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. This work will be extended with the implementation of a multi-site study funded through an NHMRC project grant at 4 sites located in Brisbane and Perth.
We will outline the progress of this project and some of the insights into videoconferenced cognitive assessment gained in the development phase.