Telehealth home monitoring of solitary persons with mild dementia.
Medication safety is a special concern for the 30% to 40% of dementia patients who live alone at the time of diagnosis, and it plays an important part in relocation decisions. Televideo monitoring could improve medication self-administration accuracy and improve mood for persons with mild dementia who live alone or spend a significant amount of their day alone. The authors used 2-way interactive video technology to monitor medication compliance of 8 persons with mild dementia. They conducted more than 4000 contacts with these persons and found adequate technical outcome in 82% of calls. End medication compliance was 81% in the video-monitored group compared to 66% in the controls (P < .05). Comparison of compliance from initial to end ratings revealed that video-monitored participants' compliance remained stable while unmonitored patients' compliance fell 12 percentage points, consistent with expectations for dementia. This difference was also significant. Quantitative and qualitative outcome data from this project are presented.
Smith
Glenn E
GE
Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. smitg@mayo.edu
Lunde
Angela M
AM
Hathaway
Julie C
JC
Vickers
Kristin S
KS
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D016903:Drug Monitoring; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D017010:Reminder Systems; D012646:Self Administration; D012934:Social Isolation; D013689:Telephone; D013690:Television; D014741:Video Recording
D011619:Psychotropic Drugs