This Research Topic is led by Silvan Licher, Frank Wolters, and Blossom Stephan, and is part of the Telemedicine in Neurology series:
Volume 1 – In Neuro-Otology, Neuro-Ophthalmology, and Movement Disorders Patient Care and Treatment (Topic Editors: Amir Kheradmand, Susanne Schneider, Mario Manto, Aasef Shaikh)
Volume 3 – In Stroke Patient Care and Treatment (Topic Editors: Thierry Moulin, Bart Demaerschalk, Thanh Phan)
Telemedicine in neurology has been a subject of debate and, until recently, was largely restricted to certain subspecialties and clinical scenarios. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has driven clinicians to rapidly adopt virtual medicine for remote diagnosis and treatment of conditions previously managed in person. This sudden expansion of virtual medicine has ignited enthusiasm for broadening the traditional model of in-person patient consultations, and has created an unprecedented opportunity for developing innovative solutions to improve patient care. In this new era, there is a need for further research to validate and standardize novel approaches for neurological evaluation of patients within the current regulatory frameworks.
Patients with or at risk for dementia are often vulnerable older adults, and by definition require assistance in activities of daily living. Healthcare professionals and caregivers are in urgent need for alternative yet appropriate ways to facilitate sustainable diagnostics, treatment, and care for these vulnerable patients, during but certainly also beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, in this Research Topic Volume, we welcome submissions that study the efficacy, applicability, or transportability of Telemedicine initiatives to improve diagnosis, treatment, and care for patients with dementia. We especially welcome submissions that focus on remote diagnostics for cognitive impairment, as well as Telemedicine initiatives that facilitate care or treatment for patients or caregivers in the context of daily clinical practice or trial design.
A central challenge in the field of Telemedicine for dementia patients and caregivers is to apply or scale up these promising developments. This Research Topic aims to identify best practices of Telemedicine. Conversely, it aims to determine hurdles for limited uptake in daily clinical practice. We seek observational or experimental studies that report on the development, efficacy, or applicability of Telemedicine to improve dementia patient diagnostics, care, and treatment across different settings ranging from nursing homes to academic memory clinics.
We especially welcome manuscripts with the following themes:
• Digital innovations that facilitate patient communication in nursing homes, such as Robotic Cats
• Remote diagnostic evaluation, for example, validation studies that assess value of digital neuropsychological assessments in remotely diagnosing cognitive disorders
• Remote cognitive outcome assessments to mitigate [long-term] clinical trial drop out
• Remote cognitive monitoring in clinical practice, using digital cognitive examinations to evaluate cognitive decline over time
• Telemedicine initiatives that improve early detection and adequate treatment of neuropsychiatric symptoms among patients with dementia