{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.025878717651602934, 'fraction_numerical': 0.013518733101583623, 'mean_word_length': 4.76837416481069, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Utilization of transfer support equipment for meeting with family members in a nursing home during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A case report

The spread of SARS-Co-V2 (COVID-19 pandemic) poses a threat to people in long-term care, and facilities are taking protective measures against the virus. For example, access to care facilities is restricted except for care staff and recipients according to governmental and prefectural announcements of a state of emergency. At the specific facility assessed in this Case Report, before the COVID-19 pandemic visitors could enter a care-recipient’s room, resulting in the daily living space shown by the blue line in Figure 1a. As a countermeasure to the COVID-19 pandemic, visits were restricted entirely to communicating through a glass shield at the entrance to the facility (Fig. 1a). In other words, under this measure, even family members were not invited into the facility. This Case Report is based on a facility survey at 1 month after the introduction of a “Resyone Plus” (Panasonic AGE-FREE Co., Ltd, Osaka, Japan), which is used as transfer support equipment and has an ISO 13482 safety certification. As shown in Figure 1b, a Resyone is an electric nursing bed with half of the bed capable of separating as an electric fully reclining wheelchair. Similar to other transfer support equipment, the physical burden associated with transfers is reduced for care recipients who are heavy or who have difficulties in getting up and need multiple caregivers during transfers. In addition to the survey, we interviewed the facility manager and caregivers at 11 months after the introduction to assess the impact of the Resyone on care. We show that, through the use of Resyone, a single caregiver can manage the care-recipient meeting with family members, and that this visitation arrangement would be difficult without the equipment. The study was conducted after an ethical review in the affiliated institution. When we introduced a Resyone to a care facility in 2019, a recipient was selected as a target case because of the size of his physique and his inability to maintain a sitting position. During the process of introducing the Resyone, 40% of transfers required multiple caregivers after 1 month (3.4 out of 8.5 times average/ day), but transfers required only one person after 11 months of use. Thus, at 11 months after the introduction of the Resyone, only one caregiver was required to transfer the care recipient from his bed, move him to the meeting place, attend to any needs during the meeting, and return him to his private room.