Video consultations for Aeroe citizens

However, it is still important that next practice is incorporated so that the solutions can be adjusted to the patient’s needs, options and capabilities, which is exactly what the project ‘Adjustments for video consultations for Aeroe citizens’ aimed to do.

AIM

The project aimed to test next practice use of video consultations for the citizens of Aeroe connected to the Department of Internal Medicine and Acute Medicine and the Department of Geriatric Medicine at Odense University Hospital Svendborg. The project wished to enhance health equality by meeting the patient’s needs, offer more cohesive patient care as well as prevent hospitalisation.

Project aims:

• To strengthen the cross-sectorial collaboration between hospital and city
• To identify and set up criteria for patients that are particularly vulnerable and have an extra need of support
• To test four different ways to carry out video consultations on the patient’s premises
• To test which devices can be applied and developed in terms of making video consultations more effective
• To evaluate the use of video consultations in terms of the patient’s and practitioner’s experiences

RESULTS

The project tested four ways to carry out video consultations which were supposed to ensure the flexibility of the patient. The four options were the following:

1. Video consultations carried out within the home of the patient
   The video consultations were carried out within the home of the patient by the use of the patient’s own devices (smartphone, tablet or PC).
2. Video consultations carried out in the home of the patient with a visiting nurse as an assessor
   A visiting nurse from Aeroe Municipality visited the patient where the nurse was able to support with both practical help and as an assessor during the conversation with the hospital. The municipality could, if needed, bring devices that can be used for the consultations.
3. Video consultations carried out in the health centre without an assessor
   The video consultation was carried out in the Health Centre of Ærøskøbing by the use of the patient’s own devices or by the use of the health centre’s devices.
4. Video consultations carried out in the health centre with a nurse as assessor
   The video consultations were carried out in the Health Centre of Ærøskøbing and with a nurse as assessor with the use the patient’s own devices or the health centre’s devices.
   Common to all four options was that the video consultations would be carried out by the use of the app My Hospital, which all patients within the Region of Southern Denmark have access to.

ASSESSMENT

Part of the project was also the assessment of video consultations based on the experiences of patients and health professionals. All patients who were offered video consultations came from the Cardiology Outpatient Clinic.

The majority of the patients who were not accompanied were happy to be able to just spend 20-40 minutes on the outpatient check instead of eight hours as before, where waiting time and transport made up the majority of that time.

The patients who agreed to have a n assessor were either in need of technical assistance alone or in need of both technical assistance and assistance in understanding the treatment. One patient did not want to continue with this type of consultation. The project made it clear that in the future there must be greater awareness of the fact that some patients may find it intrusive when the health services enter their home via video while a health professional is present in the home.

The outpatient and home nurses found that in video consultations with assessors, each contributed meaningfully in their own way. It is also their assessment that the home nurse’s presence in the patient’s home simplified the cross-sectoral coordination of the patient’s treatment. In general, the interdisciplinary coordination of the patient’s treatment course was valued by the health professionals because it resulted in fewer workflows and prevented too many health professionals from having to go through the same patient course. All healthcare professionals rated the offer as good for patient safety, as the risk of misunderstandings was reduced.

EXTERNAL FUNDING

The project was supported by Helsefonden, Aeroe Muncipality and the Region of Southern Denmark.

The project was part of Outpatient Centre Svendborg.