This implementation guide provides healthcare providers and organizations with a comprehensive framework for delivering effective telebehavioral health services to older adults. Each behavioral health care model included offers practical examples of how to incorporate the Principles and Guidelines for Telehealth and Aging, ensuring the specific needs of older adults are met.
Change Management: Engaging a Champion
Making changes to the way care is delivered often requires a champion who will lead the way. Here are some tips for engaging a champion.
Change Management: Sample PDSA Form
PDSA Planning & Progress Form
Change Management: The Model for Improvement
Enacting policy or procedure improvements within a healthcare system is vital for ensuring that the institution remains on the forefront of providing high- quality care. It is critical that quality improvement measures encourage systematic behavior to reduce variability and achieve predictable results1. To best ensure a smooth transition, the Associates for Process Improvement (API) developed The Model for Improvement.
Developing Culturally CAPABLE Materials
Culturally CAPABLE: A Mnemonic for Developing Culturally Capable Materials.SM You can use it to think about what questions to ask community members to ensure the materials you design are culturally and linguistically appropriate.
Effective Cross-Cultural Communication Skills
Equitable and Accessible Care Accounts for Linguistic and Cultural Differences of Older Adults and Their Caregivers
RESPECT Model
What is most important when you engage with patients is that you remain open and maintain a sense of respect for your patients. The RESPECT model can help you remember what factors to consider to engage patients in a culturally and linguistically competent manner. These factors are important throughout assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.
National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health and Health Care
In an effort to tackle one of the most modifiable factors of health inequity, culturally and linguistically sensitive care, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health has released a series of national standards that are intended to “advance health equity, improve quality, and help eliminate health care disparities by establishing a blueprint for health and health organizations.”
Engaging with Families and Caregivers
As a person ages, the need for family or caregivers to be engaged within their medical appointments generally increases. In a 2015 review, the Alzheimer’s Association noted that there were almost 15.7 million adult family caregivers in the United States that were providing care to an older adult that was diagnosed with either Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia alone.
Communicating with People with Disabilities
The failure of health care providers to communicate effectively and appropriately with people with disabilities is a major barrier to delivering quality health care. The following information identifies general recommendations for communicating with people with disabilities in general and for individuals with specific disabilities. If you are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with communication strategies, learn more about specific types of disability to increase your comfort level and communication skills.
Recommendations for Communicating with Older Adults During Telehealth Encounters
Equitable and Accessible Care Accounts for Older Adults’ Physical and Cognitive Differences
Pre-Visit Patient Questions: Cognitive Assessment
To keep a telehealth visit running smoothly for both patient and provider, it is important to understand what types of cognitive accommodations your patients may need for a telehealth visit before the visit ever takes place. The following is a set of questions geared for patients that must be administered by a person on your staff (not a form where the patient self reports). The screener can be done ahead of the telehealth visit over the phone or in person.