Tele-emergency utilization: In what clinical situations is tele-emergency activated?

Abstract

Although only used in 3.5% of ED encounters on average, our findings provide evidence that tele-emergency activation is well reasoned and related to those situations when extra expert assistance is particularly beneficial.

Perceptions of Rural Emergency Department Providers regarding Telehealth-Based Care: Perceived Competency, Satisfaction with Care and Tele-ED Patient Disposition

“…One recent U.S. rural hospital survey wherein 63,193 ED cases were examined for frequency counts revealed that the most common diagnoses treated using telehealth were mental health, trauma, circulatory issues and presentation of complex signs or symptoms (n = 1512 telehealth cases). [6] This descriptive assessment involved 21 rural critical access hospitals, and also highlighted thematic interview data that a sample of rural providers (n = 85) believed that telehealth helped support rapid patient transfers. [6] No quantitative analysis was included regarding patient disposition decision-making, perceptions of telehealth-based outcomes compared to usual care, nor perceptions of provider-level competencies in telehealth care delivery in the clinical setting.…”

“…[6] This descriptive assessment involved 21 rural critical access hospitals, and also highlighted thematic interview data that a sample of rural providers (n = 85) believed that telehealth helped support rapid patient transfers. [6] No quantitative analysis was included regarding patient disposition decision-making, perceptions of telehealth-based outcomes compared to usual care, nor perceptions of provider-level competencies in telehealth care delivery in the clinical setting.…”

“…While tele-emergent care has been identified as an ideal use of telehealth for rapid consultation with care specialists, there is a need for more in-depth evaluation of the major implications regarding implementation and outcomes of the utilization of tele-emergency care. [6] Medicare has also suggested tele-emergency care as ideal for quick consultation with rural sites; [5] however, provider perceptions of their competency level in regard to their continuing education needs in telehealth, and the potential influence of the telehealth visit on different types of patient cases, have not been thoroughly investigated, including perceptions of the ability to deliver high quality care via telehealth…”

Improving care delivery in critical access hospitals

“…Research Center at the University of Iowa. These centers were involved in several studies that explored the quality of care in CAHs [20][21][22][55][56][57] and designed comparative effectiveness studies to test multiple hypotheses related to quality and timeliness of care in rural hospitals using telemedicine [33,[58][59][60][61].…”

“…ED visit data were generated from the Avera Health eCare program. Initiated in October 2009, Avera eCare is now the largest regional telemedicine network in the US, with a virtual hub sample population showed that patients with cardiac disease, injury, mental illness, ill-defined symptoms, and patients who were candidates for transfer were more likely to experience a tele-ED consultation [58].…”