PHM 2021 session
Let’s Go Virtual! Developing, Implementing, and Evaluating Telehealth Models of Care for Pediatric Hospital Medicine
Dr. Theresa Scott
Presenters
Brooke Geyer, DO; Christina Olson, MD; and Amy Willis, MD, FAAP
Session summary
Dr. Geyer, Dr. Olson, and Dr. Willis of the University of Colorado presented and facilitated a workshop discussing the role of telehealth in pediatric hospital medicine. Participants were given a brief introduction to the basics of telehealth practices before breaking up into small groups to explore the process of developing, implementing, and evaluating a telehealth model in a pediatric hospital. For each of these topics, the presenters led the breakout groups through a discussion of Colorado’s successful telehealth models, including virtual nocturnists, health system resource optimization, and virtual transitions of care, as well as addressed the participants’ questions unique to their telehealth experiences. The session emphasized the emerging role of telehealth in pediatric hospital medicine and that “telehealth is here to stay, and we have an opportunity to redesign health care forever.”
Key takeaways
- Telehealth is more than just synchronous virtual patient care, it encompasses asynchronous care, remote patient monitoring, education, policy, and more.
- Telehealth standards of care are the same as in-person care.
- Development and implementation of a telehealth model in pediatric hospital medicine is feasible with appropriate planning and conversations with key stakeholders.
- Evaluation and refinement of telehealth models is an iterative process that will take time, much like Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles in quality improvement work.
Dr. Scott is a second-year pediatric hospital medicine fellow at New York–Presbyterian Columbia/Cornell. Her academic interests are in curriculum development and evaluation in medical education with a focus on telemedicine.