A fall, a pain, a wound… Every night, several patients from the 120 nursing homes in Maine-et-Loire are transferred to the emergency room of the Angers University Hospital. A passage not always justified but often unavoidable, for lack of medical personnel in these structures at night. “Between midnight and 7 a.m., there are not many caregivers and not necessarily a nurse, confirms Doctor Marine Afsar, geriatrician at the Angevin hospital and coordinating doctor at the Saint-Nicolas nursing home. Calls to the 15th often lead to a transfer to the emergency room, which is not trivial in these fragile populations, with the risk of complications. »
From this Thursday evening, the situation might change. A dozen retirement homes and the CHU will test a new device with the aim of “improving the care pathway” for these audiences and above all to avoid unnecessary travel. These voluntary establishments have in fact equipped themselves with a “standard case” containing medicines (painkillers, anti-nausea, etc.) and first aid accessories (compresses, etc.), associated with a mobile phone.
A remote “clinical assessment”
The camera of the device will allow a video exchange, directly with a doctor from 15. “The clinical evaluation will be done remotely, explains Doctor Delphine Douillet, emergency doctor at the CHU. If the patient does not require a transfer, we can then prescribe a drug that is in the case, which the staff on site will deliver. A reassessment will be made a little later in the night if necessary. The nursing home doctor will then take over the next morning.
This device, invented several years ago to provide emergency care in the high mountains, should be multiplied in the department. An evaluation will be carried out on its effectiveness but the CHU already indicates that half of these passages might be deferred. The ARS, which supports the approach, highlights the “very reassuring” aspect for the patients and staff of the nursing homes concerned.
