Use of telemedicine to provide initial home parenteral nutrition training during COVID-19 pandemic: A case series

Abstract

Background

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has led to dramatic changes including social distancing, closure of schools, travel bans, and issues of stay-at-home orders. The health-care field has been transformed with elective procedures and on-site visits being deferred. Telemedicine has emerged as a novel mechanism to continue to provide care. However, there remains a paucity of data regarding its efficacy in nutrition support, especially in patients with chronic intestinal failure (CIF).

Objective

Describe the utilization of telehealth in the routine management of CIF, particularly in the initiation and training of home parenteral nutrition (HPN).

Methods

A case series presenting our experience with the use of telemedicine to provide training for HPN for three patients. The manuscript describes the utility of telehealth in providing remote and adequate training for patients commenced on HPN during COVID-19 pandemic.

Results

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have successfully provided virtual training to three patients, including two who were noted to be severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) positive and one patient who could not be transferred to our facility for training. For SARS-CoV-2 positive patients, the risk of transmission to nursing staff with 8–10 h of face-to-face training in two cases was felt to be too significant for in-person training. We determined that the best option would be to stabilize parenteral nutrition in the hospital and perform virtual training. Although virtual training was successfully performed, it was felt that training in this manner took much longer, required frequent adjustment of the tablet device to ensure patient remained in field of view, and made it difficult to connect with the patient emotionally.

Conclusions

Telemedicine has significantly improved care provided during COVID-19 as a modality for effective training on HPN, while in-person communication was significantly limited due to the pandemic. However, when possible, it should be used in a manner that complements but does not supplant standard care.