Older heart patients not technophobes
by Nicole Mikajewski
Academic
researcher, registered nurse, registered midwife and critical care
nurse Dr Robyn Clark has proven that when it comes to their health,
older people are more than willing to put aside their fears of the
unfamiliar.
Last December, Dr Clark was the first researcher to complete a PhD through a National Institute of Clinical Studies scholarship supported by the Heart Foundation. Her research contributed to the National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC) ongoing study, Chronic heart failure assistance by telephone (CHAT).
The NHMRC implemented the telephone support system, led by specialist cardiac nurses at the Heart Foundation’s national call centre, with the aim of teaching older chronic heart failure patients in rural and remote Australia to recognise and report symptoms and self-monitoring.
"My PhD research looked at whether older people would like receiving health care via the telephone. I looked at their compliance, adaptation and satisfaction with the technology," Dr Clark said.
The results of her research have dispelled many myths about the older people being technophobic.
"The results indicated that there was a 76 per cent satisfaction rate and that 97 per cent of older patients adapted well to the technology," Dr Clark said.
"These findings are important for Australia because we have many rural and remote areas. Many older chronic heart failure patients live too far away for a nurse to come visit them at home."
With such positive response, Dr Clark is interested in developing a similar model to assist older patients in rural and remote Australia with other diseases.
"Together with the NHMRC, my research is proving that telephone follow up and self-monitoring has the potential to be just as effective as a nurse visit," Dr Clark said.
"I would like to see if this model could be adapted to assist patients with other chronic diseases."