Implementation of a Pediatric Emergency Telemedicine Program.

Publication Type Academic Article
Authors Kim J, Friedman J, Clark S, Hafeez B, Listman D, Lame M, Eid D, Sharma R, Platt S
Journal Pediatr Emerg Care
Volume 36
Issue 2
Pagination e104-e107
Date Published 02/01/2020
ISSN 1535-1815
Keywords Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Telemedicine
Abstract OBJECTIVES: Our goal was to describe the experiences after the launch of a pediatric emergency telemedicine program at a large, urban, academic medical center. METHODS: We launched 3 unique pediatric emergency telemedicine programs at an urban, academic medical center: direct-to-consumer pediatric virtual urgent care, pediatric emergency department (PED) telemedicine follow-up, and telemedicine medical screening examination in the PED. RESULTS: We evaluated 84 patients via direct-to-consumer pediatric virtual urgent care with the most common chief complaint related to fever, dermatologic, or respiratory systems; we referred 12% to the PED, and 20% of those required hospital admission. We evaluated 38 patients via PED telemedicine follow-up; we referred 19% back to the PED, and 43% of those required hospital admission. Median duration for a telemedicine encounter was 10 minutes. We screened 3809 patients in the PED using telemedicine medical screening examination. CONCLUSIONS: We offer a description of an innovative and comprehensive new pediatric emergency telemedicine program implemented at a large, urban, academic medical center. Our initial findings demonstrate short visit times, antibiotic stewardship, and low rates of PED referral and subsequent admission for patients who use a telemedicine service. We plan to further examine the impact of pediatric emergency telemedicine on the care of children as our program expands.
DOI 10.1097/PEC.0000000000002044
PubMed ID 31929395
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