Can Telemedicine Reduce Wait Time In Emergency Department?
By Katie Wike, contributing writer
Pilot study at UC San Diego Health System connecting on-call doctors outside the hospital with emergency depatment patients in need
The University of California San Diego Health System has launched a telemedicine pilot program designed to reduce the amount of time a patient spends in emergency departments (ED). According to UC San Diego, “The study is the first of its kind in California to use cameras to bring on-call doctors who are outside of the hospital to the patient in need.”
Often, on call doctors cannot arrive immediately to see patients, but through sound and video technology they are available at the push of a button. The study’s full name is Emergency Department Telemedicine Initiative to Rapidly Accommodate in Times of Emergency (EDTITRATE), and its goal is not only to reduce wait time, but to also study how emergency care is delivered and judge its effectiveness.
David Guss, MD, principal investigator and chair of the department of emergency medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine, is quoted in the UC San Diego release announcing the program as saying, “With the ED physicians on site and an added telemedicine physician, patient care may be significantly expedited. If the use of a telemedicine evaluation can be shown to be safe and effective, it may shift how care in the emergency department is delivered."
In addition to being a potential care game-changer, EDTITRATE has the potential to help facilitate staffing challenges. “Working in an emergency department opened around the clock, you never know who may come through the door, so you are constantly faced with the challenge of matching staffing resources with the demands for care,” said Guss. “Some emergency departments have placed a physician in the triage area to expedite care, however, if there is low demand for service during these times, an underutilized physician creates an unneeded expense.” An on-call physician utilizing EDTITRATE could ease that problem.
California Healthline reports that the video module is so advanced, a doctor can examine not just a patient’s skin, eyes, nose and throat; but also monitor their heartbeat and listen to their lungs. Doctors can order lab tests and view the results on the monitor as well.
Fierce Health IT looked at UC San Diego’s Medical Center in Hillcrest, CA - a facility that is already using telehealth in its neo-natal ICU unit - a writes doctors are hoping video calls will reduce ED overcrowding which “increases patient risk and decreases patient satisfaction with emergency services," according to Vaishal Tolia, M.D., an emergency medicine physician at UC San Diego Health System.
Hillcrest currently has six rooms in the ED outfitted with equipment for EDTITRATE use and they can be activated during their busiest times. Tolia expressed enthusiasm for the program, saying “Implementing telemedicine in the emergency department setting may improve the overall experience for both patients and medical staff.”