ArticleClinical interventions in aging2015
The effect of a virtual ward program on emergency services utilization and quality of life in frail elderly patients after discharge: a pilot study.
Article in Clinical interventions in aging, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Multidisciplinary interventions for reducing the avoidable displacement from home of frail older people: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2019Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Beyond the Bedside: The Pivotal Role of Nursing Clinical Leadership in Developing Virtual Ward Care Through Telemedicine-A Review of the Evidence.Journal of clinical nursing · 2026Review
- Remote Patient Monitoring in Hospital at Home: Bibliometric Analysis of the Field and Scoping Review of Nursing Practice.Journal of nursing management · 2026Review
- Review
- Integrated Care at Home: A Novel Home-Based Medical Care Program for Community-Dwelling Frail Older Adults in Hong Kong.Annals of geriatric medicine and research · 2025Observational
- Incidence and predictors of unplanned 30-day hospital readmissions among heart failure patients in Ethiopia: a 5-year retrospective cohort study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Virtual wards for people with frailty: what works, for whom, how and why-a rapid realist review.Age and ageing · 2024Review
- Integrating hospital and community care: using a community virtual ward model to deliver combined specialist and generalist care to patients with severe chronic respiratory disease in their homes.Irish journal of medical science · 2022Article
- How do we identify acute medical admissions that are suitable for same day emergency care?Clinical medicine (London, England) · 2022Review
- Utilisation of a Suite of Screening Tools to Determine Adverse Healthcare Outcomes in an Older Frail Population Admitted to a Community Virtual Ward.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Continuum of Care: Positioning of the Virtual Hospital.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2021Article
- Home visits for vulnerable older people: journeys to the 'Far End'.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2020Article
- Risk Prediction for Adverse Outcomes for Frail Older Persons with Complex Healthcare and Social Care Needs Admitted to a Community Virtual Ward Model.Clinical interventions in aging · 2020Article
- What do we know about frailty in the acute care setting? A scoping review.BMC geriatrics · 2018Article
- Evaluating the impact of a home-based rehabilitation service on older people and their caregivers: a matched-control quasi-experimental study.Clinical interventions in aging · 2018Article
- Universal Health Coverage through Community Nursing Services: China vs. Hong Kong.Revista latino-americana de enfermagem · 2017Article
- A community virtual ward model to support older persons with complex health care and social care needs.Clinical interventions in aging · 2017Observational
- Frail older adults with minor fractures show lower health-related quality of life (SF-12) scores up to six months following emergency department discharge.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionAttendance at emergency departments and unplanned hospital readmissions are common for frail older patients after discharge from hospitals. A virtual ward service was piloted to deliver "hospital-at-home" services by community nurses and geriatricians to frail older patients immediately after their discharge from hospital to reduce emergency services utilization.
objectivesThis study examined the impacts of the virtual ward service on changes in the patients' emergency attendance and medical readmissions, and their quality of life (QOL).
methodsA matched-control quasi-experimental study was conducted at four hospitals, with three providing the virtual ward service (intervention) and one providing the usual community nursing care (control). Subjects in the intervention group were those who are at high risk of readmission and who are supported by home carers recruited from the three hospitals providing the virtual ward service. Matched control patients were those recruited from the hospital providing usual care. Outcome measures include emergency attendance and medical readmission in the past 90 days as identified from medical records, and patient-reported QOL as measured by the modified Quality-of-Life Concerns in the End of Life Questionnaire (Chinese version). Wilcoxon signed-rank tests compared the changes in the outcome variables between groups.
resultsA total of 39 patients in each of the two groups were recruited. The virtual ward group showed a greater significant reduction in the number of unplanned emergency hospital readmissions (-1.41±1.23 versus -0.77±1.31; P=0.049) and a significant improvement in their overall QOL (n=18; 0.60±0.56 versus 0.07±0.56; P=0.02), but there was no significant difference in the number of emergency attendances (-1.51±1.25 versus -1.08±1.48; P=0.29).
conclusionThe study results support the effectiveness of the virtual ward service in reducing unplanned emergency medical readmissions and in improving the QOL in frail older patients after discharge.
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