Telehealth group exercise classes help improve home visiting service
A successful research trial involving telehealth group exercise classes has improved access and patient outcomes for people aged over 65 who are cared for at home. Pictured COH physiotherapist and trial lead Hannah Findsen.
A successful research trial involving telehealth group exercise classes has improved access and patient outcomes for people aged over 65 being visited and cared for at home.
Community and Oral Health (COH) physiotherapist and trial lead Hannah Findsen said the Telehealth Group Exercise Classes in the Metro North Community Transition Care Program (CTCP) trial aimed to increase the exercise frequency and outcomes for older adults in a home care setting.
“For people aged over 65, the Australian Government recommends 30 minutes of moderately intense activity each day to maintain wellbeing and physical health,” Ms Findsen said.
“When an older person is recovering from a complex injury, medical condition or surgery, exercise and rehabilitation become a lot more important so they can rebuild their strength and confidence.
“Good exercise contributes to living well and enjoying life especially at an older age, and research shows that supervised exercise promotes better quality exercise than unsupervised exercise.”
As part of the trial, the Community Transition Care Program (CTCP) held telehealth group exercise classes for eligible patients twice a week for six weeks.
“As part of the trial, 11 classes were delivered in six weeks, with a maximum of four clients aged over 65 years participating per class,” Ms Findsen said.
“Older patients were assessed by a physiotherapist as being suitable for group telehealth exercises before being referred to the classes.”
Traditionally, CTCP supported clients with a home visit of a physiotherapist once a fortnight (weekly only if clinically indicated) and a home exercise program twice a week, as well as independent exercise programs as required.
“The research pilot has seen increased exercise frequency amongst older adult participants and enhanced access to supervised physiotherapy within the current resourcing model,” Ms Findsen said.
“Patients valued the physical benefits, the easy access to healthcare and the social connection of exercising with others.
“The ability to be able to communicate with others in the group setting was important as they were able to chat and discuss their lives and connect with others during the session.”
Since the pilot has been completed, due to feasibility, the group telehealth sessions have now been embedded into the CTCP service, with two telehealth classes per week for eligible participants.
“Across the pilot generally the clients improved their function, outcome measures and met their personal goals,” Ms Findsen said.
“Clients wanted to attend other group exercise classes post-discharge from CTCP and they completed more exercise per week compared to pre-hospital.”
As part of the research, resources were developed such as referral criteria, consent forms, documentation forms, exercise safety screening questions and a work instruction outlining the process to facilitate the classes and what to do in the event of a clinical deterioration.
The pilot has generated interest across COH home visiting services, signalling the opportunity for broader implementation of telehealth exercise programs in the home care setting.