ORLANDO — After implementing a digital video telemedicine mannequin in Stanford Healthcare’s emergency division, sufferers have supplied extra optimistic suggestions concerning their expertise than the usual emergency division, mentioned audio system on the 2024 HIMSS International Well being Convention & Exhibition preconference Digital Care Discussion board on Monday.
“Our journey started with COVID,” mentioned Patrice Callagy, govt director of emergency companies at Stanford Healthcare. “Though our emergency division had the flexibility to telehealth into our system, the nurse needed to be within the room to function that.”
Callagy and her colleague Sam Shen, scientific professor and vice chair of scientific operations and high quality within the division of emergency drugs, challenged their colleagues to develop a system the place suppliers might remotely talk with a affected person, and in every week’s time a brand new expertise was applied.
“Telemedicine has been round for a very long time as lots of you might be conscious, however COVID type of supplied a catalyst in permitting us to consider how we might leverage the expertise past simply COVID,” Shen mentioned.
Therefore, the Degree 1 trauma heart created a digital fast-track zone within the emergency division foyer, with carts outfitted with digital instruments. One doctor might just about see quite a few sufferers within the emergency division space.
The crew additionally created an emergency division video-visit track-board within the EHR, which allowed physicians to see which sufferers have been within the queue after which carry out a telehealth go to with the affected person just about.
“You may advance telemedicine in any avenue, however particularly inside emergency departments,” Callagy mentioned.
Earlier than digital visits, physicians would see one affected person at a time with longer wait durations between affected person exams. After implementing a digital fast-track program, physicians can just about cowl a number of low acuity sufferers within the pediatric ED, grownup ED and walk-in clinics.
The highest affected person points seen by way of the digital platform are sore throat, chest ache, cough, stomach ache, again ache, rash, knee ache, ear ache and foot ache.
Sufferers have supplied optimistic suggestions for emergency division digital care, with larger charges of satisfaction, even when in comparison with the well being system’s common emergency division.
The objective was to get the affected person to the physician sooner, which has been achieved via the digital mannequin, Callagy mentioned.
