Innovative Virtual Solutions to Address the Gap in Aged Care in Regional Australia: What Are the Critical Work-System...

Digital health tools such as video-telehealth offer a solution to address the critical gap in aged care health services in regional and remote Australia, however, the elements needed to deliver safe, good quality virtual care remain underexplored. This study aimed to scope the current use of telehealth, determine how individuals, tasks, technologies, tools, environmental and organisational factors interact when telehealth technologies are used in aged care settings, and identify the work-system elements required for successful video-telehealth delivery. Semi-structured interview data were collected from residential aged care staff, and residents, and primary health carers in regional and remote New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Participants were asked about their experiences of using telehealth, what works and does not work well, the level of support, and challenges, changes to work system and processes, and workarounds. A thematic analysis where we mapped data to the components of the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) framework was conducted. Findings highlight the importance of a aligned workflow processes, clinical coordinator, flexibility, supportive staff, communication, targeted training and adequate infrastructure to support video-telehealth.