On 12 June, clinicians at Fundacio ACE in Barcelona published an article in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, reporting on their experience of adapting their model of care in line with COVID-19 lockdown measures. Prof. Merce Boada, leader of the MOPEAD project and Director of Fundacio ACE, is the corresponding author for the article.
Established in 1996, Fundacio ACE is a private, non-profit organisation that provides holistic, patient-centred care to people with dementia and other cognitive disorders. Based in Barcelona, Spain, Fundacio ACE is located in one of the most affected European regions for COVID-19, with an estimated 500 deaths per million people. At the height of the pandemic, the Spanish government imposed strict lockdown measures, confining people at home, closing public spaces and imposing severe restrictions on non-essential movements. In their article, clinicians at Fundacio ACE share their experiences of dealing with this major challenge, and the way their patient-centred model was adapted to provide telemedicine support rather than face-to-face care.
The main priority for Fundacio ACE was to guarantee the protection and safety of their staff and the people they care for, whilst maintaining continuity of care. Fundacio ACE is organised into a Memory Unit, a Day Care Unit, a Clinical Trials Unit and a Research Unit. The article outlines the actions undertaken by the different Units of Fundacio ACE prior to and during lockdown. Before lockdown, Fundacio ACE took steps to ensure prevention and protection measures were in place throughout all Units, also progressively reducing clinical activities in anticipation of the evolution of the pandemic. Following lockdown, Fundacio ACE closed the Day Care Unit and stopped the face-to-face activities of the Memory Unit, instead transitioning to a telemedicine system. Secure access to medical records was provided through a virtual private network, while consultations were carried out using videoconferencing platforms or on the phone. Where possible, neuropsychological and neurological assessments were performed using this platforms, and the health status of all patients from the Day Care Unit was monitored via daily phone calls using a checklist system. Similarly, the health of clinical trial participants was regularly monitored, and courier services were used to deliver medication as required.
Using these modified care approaches, monitoring numbers revealed that almost 78% of Memory Unit activities had resumed within 6 weeks from the start of lockdown. Feedback collected from Fundacio ACE staff was very positive, showing high levels of satisfaction with the telemedicine model. Patient and family carer feedback was also generally positive, although the article highlighted the fact that not all patients had the required digital devices or expertise to use the telemedicine system. The authors finished by concluding that the implementation of telemedicine and remote monitoring systems could help deliver dementia care to remote locations or to areas lacking memory clinics or day care facilities.
Link to article: https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad…
