Neuropsychological Assessment in Times of Social Distancing: What Can Telemedicine Offer to Older Adults?

Neuropsychological assessment is responsible for exploring cognitive performance through the administration of standardized tests. It collaborates with the clinical diagnosis and delivers objective information on cognitive deficits and abilities. Telemedicine is a tool that can be used to distribute medicine in a different and novel way to any part of the world and is especially useful for places where physical access to hospitals is difficult or impossible. The use of technology for neuropsychological evaluation is growing at an accelerated rate, both due to the advancement of technological facilities and, currently, due to the present health emergency context. Older adults where the first group to get confined, so they are protected from the daily activities that may be associated to the COVID-19 virus, but an interesting paradox has arisen: older adults are confined at home for protection, but with this measure, many of them are not able to receive medical attention. Given the growing demand to provide services in virtual mode due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to review the usefulness teleneuropsychology and its benefits for attending older adults with cognitive complaints or a dementia diagnosis. Teleneuropsychology is a novel approach and the literature on this professional practice is still very limited, since to date there are few research studies on the use of this modality.

Keywords: Cognitive complaints; COVID-19; Neuropsychological assessment; Older adults; Telemedicine