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Implementation of a Pediatric Emergency Telemedicine Program
Ji Won Kim1, Jonathan Friedman, Sunday Clark
1From the Departments of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY.
Insights
A new pediatric emergency telemedicine program offers efficient care with short visit times. Initial findings show low referral and admission rates, improving pediatric urgent care accessibility.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine
- Telehealth Innovation
- Academic Medical Centers
Background:
- Urban academic medical centers face challenges in pediatric emergency care delivery.
- Telemedicine presents a potential solution to enhance access and efficiency.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe the implementation and initial experiences of a pediatric emergency telemedicine program.
- To evaluate the outcomes of three distinct telemedicine services within a pediatric emergency setting.
Main Methods:
- Launched direct-to-consumer virtual urgent care, pediatric emergency department (PED) telemedicine follow-up, and PED telemedicine medical screening.
- Evaluated patient encounters, referral rates, and hospital admission data.
Main Results:
- Direct-to-consumer virtual urgent care: 84 patients, 12% referred to PED, 20% of those admitted.
- PED telemedicine follow-up: 38 patients, 19% referred back to PED, 43% of those admitted.
- Telemedicine medical screening: 3809 patients screened in PED; median encounter duration was 10 minutes.
Conclusions:
- The implemented pediatric emergency telemedicine program is innovative and comprehensive.
- Initial findings indicate short visit times, antibiotic stewardship, and low referral/admission rates.
- Further examination of telemedicine's impact on pediatric emergency care is planned.
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.
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