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02Aug

International telehealth experts share their experiences

International urgent care colleagues shared their experiences and reflections on implementing a telehealth model to support triage across Urgent Care and Emergency Departments at a webinar last week. 

The webinar was facilitated by the CCN (Canterbury Clinical Network) Urgent Care Service Level Collaborative (SLC) with Christchurch Hospital Emergency Medicine Specialist Dr Martin Than, also a member of the SLC, chairing the presentation. 

Presenters included Professor Judd Hollander, Senior Vice President for Healthcare Delivery Innovation and Professor at the Department of Emergency Medicine for the Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia; and Dr Loren Sher, Clinical Director of the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department and Head of Paediatric Emergency in Melbourne.

Senior Project Facilitator / Kaiwhakahaere Waitara for CCN Victoria Leov said the session provided some useful insight as our system explores wider implementation of telehealth to support capacity pressures. 

“It was valuable to learn from reflections of introducing a new model of care in the acute care setting which focuses on using telehealth to bolster system capacity,” says Victoria. 

“It was particularly interesting to hear the observations from both speakers on how telehealth can decrease inequities in access and encourage more patient-led collaboration in their own care.” 

Professor Hollander highlighted their model of care resulted in increased treatment of patients in rural areas, decreased need to transport individuals out of their community and increased the knowledge of clinical teams working in these areas. 

The session was interactive and included questions from the attendees regarding if the new models were equitable for people who don’t have access to online tools, what resourcing and training is required and how to engage patients, providers and staff to use telehealth.

The recording is available to view here

Additional resources shared in the session  
https://www.emergencyconsult.co.nz/
https://www.telehealth.org.nz/telehealth-forum/submissions/pase/
https://www.digifale.co.nz/
https://www.telehealth.org.nz/webinars

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