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Breaking Social Isolation Amidst COVID‐19: A Viewpoint on Improving Access to Technology in Long‐Term Care Facilities
Marzieh Eghtesadi. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2020-04-11
Topic: Health services, long-term care and technology
In regards to policy-making decisions and resource allocation, the success of making technology more accessible to the marginalized older population should not be measured solely on the outcome of avoiding acute care services; its benefits should rather be assessed with functional health as the focus of intervention, including measures of psychophysical well-being and life satisfaction.9 Higher-end immersive technologies could be installed as a private expense in a patient's room; they could also be made available in common recreational areas within a leisure and/or fitness room, provided by the LTC facility through support of government subsidies and incentives aimed at promoting health of its aging population. However, more popular interactive devices, such as smartphones and computer tablets, must be made available as an affordable commodity for the means of every patient at risk of social isolation, while providing all the necessary ergonomic adjustments to those with impaired physical and sensory function. Finally, just like the pharmaceutical industries should not be allowed to simply sell to the highest bidder during a pandemic, big tech corporations should be required to collaborate with governmental social initiatives to ensure access to technology for marginalized populations in times of public health crisis.10 Conflicts of interest to declare by author due to financial and personal relationships that could potentially bias this work: none. Dr Eghtesadi contributed entirely to drafting, revising, and approving the final manuscript for submission. Sponsor's Role: There is no sponsor role.
Key findings
- In regards to policy-making decisions and resource allocation, the success of making technology more accessible to the marginalized older population should not be measured solely on the outcome of avoiding acute care services; its benefits should rather be assessed with functional health as the focus of intervention, including measures of psychophysical well-being and life satisfaction.9 Higher-end immersive technologies could be installed as a private expense in a patient's room; they could also be made available in common recreational areas within a leisure and/or fitness room, provided by the LTC facility through support of government subsidies and incentives aimed at promoting health of its aging population.
- However, more popular interactive devices, such as smartphones and computer tablets, must be made available as an affordable commodity for the means of every patient at risk of social isolation, while providing all the necessary ergonomic adjustments to those with impaired physical and sensory function.
- Finally, just like the pharmaceutical industries should not be allowed to simply sell to the highest bidder during a pandemic, big tech corporations should be required to collaborate with governmental social initiatives to ensure access to technology for marginalized populations in times of public health crisis.10 Conflicts of interest to declare by author due to financial and personal relationships that could potentially bias this work: none.
- Dr Eghtesadi contributed entirely to drafting, revising, and approving the final manuscript for submission.
- Sponsor's Role: There is no sponsor role.
Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 41/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 24 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 41 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Journal of the American Geriatrics Society) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 2 / 5 | 2020 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 32277470) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 24 / 58 | Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 24 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 41 out of 100. |
| Total | 41 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
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Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
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APA 7th
Eghtesadi, M. (2020). Breaking Social Isolation Amidst COVID‐19: A Viewpoint on Improving Access to Technology in Long‐Term Care Facilities. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.16478
Vancouver
Eghtesadi M. Breaking Social Isolation Amidst COVID‐19: A Viewpoint on Improving Access to Technology in Long‐Term Care Facilities. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2020. doi:10.1111/jgs.16478. PMID: 32277470.
BibTeX
@article{eghtesadi2020-32277470,
author = {Eghtesadi, Marzieh},
title = {{Breaking Social Isolation Amidst COVID‐19: A Viewpoint on Improving Access to Technology in Long‐Term Care Facilities}},
journal = {Journal of the American Geriatrics Society},
year = {2020},
doi = {10.1111/jgs.16478},
pmid = {32277470},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.16478}
}