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Health Check: “Virtual” hospital visits cut relatives’ distress

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A patient in an intensive care unit

2022/08/10 GMT

“Virtual” hospital visits cut relatives’ distress

BBC World Service - Health Check, “Virtual” hospital visits cut relatives’ distress

New study: video calls helped reduce distress when relatives couldn’t visit loved ones

Video calls in hospital benefit families; Relatives trained to give medicines at home to ease symptoms at the end of life; Why blood pressure should be measured in both arms.

In the pandemic when intensive care units were full and visitors were not allowed some families kept in touch using phones and tablets. A new study in the UK shows that this “virtual” visiting did help to reduce the distress felt by relatives – and the practice still continues to keep families in touch when they live far apart. 

Training relatives to give medicines at home to ease their loved ones’ symptoms at the end of life was pioneered in Australia. This week a specially-adapted version of the caring@home programme is being launched to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island families. The practice is catching on in the UK - we hear from Mark who helped ease his mother’s pain and nausea at the end of her life. 

Dr Graham Easton from Barts and the London has news of a study from India showing how small differences in the beating heart could help to predict the risk of diabetes developing. He also warns that doctors need to stop fat shaming people to help them lose weight – and how blood pressure should be taken in both arms. 

Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Paula McGrath

(Picture: A patient in an intensive care unit on a ventilator. Photo credit: Jackyenjoyphotography/Getty Images.)

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