Introduction
Accident and Emergency (A&E) hospital pressures can be reduced through telemedicine or virtual care. Telemedicine uses technology to provide remote healthcare services, monitor patients’ conditions and early intervention to prevent escalations and readmissions.
How can telemedicine help to relieve emergency department resources and admissions?
There are a number of ways that telemedicine can help.
- Telemedicine Consultations
- Telemedicine consultations with GPs anywhere can be used for patients requiring non-emergency medical attention. Virtual visits allow patients to have a remote consultation, reducing the need for them to visit emergency departments for minor ailments or follow-up care. See BlueEye Clinic Video consultation software.
- Virtual Mental Health Services can be provided to support patients. Access to virtual counselling and therapy can help prevent mental health crises resulting in emergency hospital admissions.
- Remote Consultations for Specialist Care can be facilitated for patients who require specialist care but may face barriers to accessing in-person appointments. Virtual specialty consultations can help treatment adherence and prevent unnecessary emergency admissions for conditions that can be managed remotely.
- Remote Monitoring
Remote monitoring sensors can be used to track patients’ vital signs and symptoms and health status from their homes. These devices can be used to monitor chronic conditions, post-operative recovery, respiratory, cardia, diabetes and other patient cohorts, allowing healthcare providers to intervene promptly if any alarming changes occur. See BlueEye Virtual Ward platform. Chronic disease management programs providing regular check-ins, medication management and lifestyle coaching for patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes, respiratory and heart conditions can be managed with remote monitoring. Proactive management can help prevent disease exacerbations and reduce the need for emergency hospitalizations. BlueEye Virtual Ward is completely customisable to set up these types of programs.
- Virtual Emergency Triage and Care
Establish virtual triage where patients can receive timely assessment and treatment recommendations from healthcare providers, diverting patients away from emergency departments. BlueEye First software allows an emergency call centre to initiate a secure video link with an emergency caller, allowing an emergency operator to assess and direct emergency care remotely. This can mean that some emergency callers can be sent to their GP, or straight to specialist hospital departments, and not the emergency department. BlueEye Handsfreecamera and integrated platform allows paramedics to use video communications from anywhere though mobile networks or WiFi in order to access remote medical expertise in an emergency.
- Patient Education
Patients can be provided with educational resources through virtual platforms. Empowering patients to monitor their own health, recognize signs of deterioration, and take appropriate actions can help prevent emergency hospital admissions.
- Outpatient Care and Follow-Up
A telemedicine platform such as BlueEye Clinic for video consultations can be used to facilitate care coordination and follow-up appointments after emergency department visits or hospital discharges. Virtual follow-up visits can help ensure that patients receive timely post-discharge care and support, reducing the risk of readmissions. Implementation of virtual medication management programs can be used to monitor patients’ medication adherence, side effects, and treatment responses. Virtual medication reviews and adjustments can help optimize medication regimens and prevent medication-related emergencies.
Conclusion
By integrating telemedicine into healthcare delivery models and across different clinical scenarios, healthcare providers can effectively reduce emergency hospital admissions while improving timely access to healthcare services for patients.
Contact us today at support@blueeye.video to discuss video and critical communications, remote monitoring and wearable mobile video.