Need for teleconsultation among the emergency medicine and critical care personnel during pre-hospital transport in a tertiary care unit

Authors

  • V. Karunai Kadhir Department of Accident and Critical Care Medicine, Vinayaka Missions Medical College, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India
  • T. Hemalatha Department of Pharmacology, Government Medical College, Kozhikode, Kerala, India
  • V. P. Chandrasekaran Department of Accident and Critical Care Medicine, Vinayaka Missions Medical College, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2349-3933.ijam20170106

Keywords:

Emergency medical services, Prehospital period, Teleconsultation

Abstract

Background: Time being the most crucial factors in emergency medicine, teleconsultation enables patient assessment by specialists, immediate reception of appropriate treatment guidelines until the patient's arrival at hospital.

Methods: Our study evaluated the need for teleconsultation among the emergency physicians (EP) and emergency technicians (ET) in a tertiary care hospital. Cross-sectional study conducted in Department of Emergency Medicine, a tertiary care setting. Pretested semi-structured questionnaire was given to EP and ET. Various parameters like the need for teleconsultation, the minimum time required for EMS (emergency medical services) to arrive at the scene and to the hospital, effectiveness of teleconsultation in prehospital care were evaluated.

Results: SPSS version 18.0 was used. 24 EP and 36 ET participated in the study. The minimum time required for the EMS to arrive at the scene and then to hospital was calculated indirectly to be > 30 min. There was a significant difference among the EP an ET in interpreting common emergency condition p = 0.029 and criticality assessment p=0.035.The training of EMS staffs was adequate. Both EP and ET were able to adhere recent guidelines during prehospital transport. All the study participants (100%) felt the need for teleconsultation which would improve the patient management during the prehospital period.

Conclusions: Teleconsultation has the potential to improve patient safety and quality of treatment in a prehospital setting and should be further evaluated.

 

References

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Published

2017-01-23

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Section

Original Research Articles