A joint US-UK study of home telenursing

Abstract

Nursing notes for patients nursed at home in the USA and the UK were reviewed using an abstraction instrument developed and tested in the US. More than 1700 episodes of patient care at home were reviewed: 906 in the US and 839 in the UK. Preliminary data suggest that in the US approximately 45% of home nursing visits could be done via telemedicine, while the figure is lower in the UK, less than 15%. Pilot trials of an analogue video-telephone in Kansas City and Belfast suggest that even relatively low-quality compressed video may be useful for home nursing. Clearly, there are differences between the two countries which merit further study, but there is evidence to suggest that telemedicine may have a role in the delivery of home health care.