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How Well Did the Healthcare System Respond to the Healthcare Needs of Older People with and without Dementia during the COVID-19 Pandemic? The Perception of Healthcare Providers and Older People from the SI4CARE Project in the ADRION Region.

Stella FragkiadakiDionysia KontaxopoulouEvangelia StanitsaEfthalia AngelopoulouDimosthenis PavlouDarja ŠemrovSimon ColnarMitja LustrekBojan BlažicaInga VučicaRoberta MatkovićKatarina VukojevićAna JelicicPietro Hiram GuzziVlatka MartinovićAmina Pekmez MedinaGuido PiccoliMargherita MenonSrdjan KozetinacMiodrag MiljkovićChrysanthi KiskiniThemis KokorotsikosVasiliki ZilidouIvan RadevićJohn D PapatriantafyllouEleftherios ThireosAgis TsourosVlado DimovskiSokratis G Papageorgiou
Published in: Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) (2023)
One major challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic was the limited accessibility to healthcare facilities, especially for the older population. The aim of the current study was the exploration of the extent to which the healthcare systems responded to the healthcare needs of the older people with or without cognitive impairment and their caregivers in the Adrion/Ionian region. Data were collected through e-questionnaires regarding the adequacy of the healthcare system and were anonymously administered to older individuals and stakeholder providers in the following countries: Slovenia, Italy (Calabria), Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia. Overall, 722 older people and 267 healthcare stakeholders participated in the study. During the COVID-19 pandemic, both healthcare stakeholders and the older population claimed that the healthcare needs of the older people and their caregivers increased dramatically in all countries, especially in Italy (Calabria), Croatia and BiH. According to our results, countries from the Adrion/Ionian regions faced significant challenges to adjust to the special needs of the older people during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was possibly due to limited accessibility opportunities to healthcare facilities. These results highlight the need for the development of alternative ways of providing medical assistance and supervision when in-person care is not possible.
Keyphrases
  • healthcare
  • palliative care
  • cognitive impairment
  • physical activity
  • quality improvement
  • middle aged
  • machine learning
  • community dwelling
  • deep learning
  • social media
  • affordable care act
  • mild cognitive impairment