Overview
Real-Time Virtual Support (RTVS) is a collaborative initiative of the BC healthcare system to enable the delivery of timely emergency and urgent patient-centred care closer to home via specialized RTVS services (called pathways) – saving time, money, and the potential risk of COVID-19 exposure.
Digital Emergency Medicine (DigEM) leads the evaluation of BC’s RTVS Learning Health System (LHS).
Pathways
HEiDi: HealthLink BC Emergency iDoctor-in-assistance
The HEiDi pathway provides physician support to HealthLink BC 8-1-1.
Learn more about HEiDi from Dr. Kendall Ho, Digital Emergency Medicine (DigEM) Lead:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5Ttp-SOZvc&feature=emb_imp_woyt[/youtube]
DigEM leads both the administration and evaluation of the HEiDi pathway.
Publications
Integration of virtual physician visits into a provincial 8-1-1 health information telephone service during the COVID-19 pandemic: A descriptive study of HealthLink BC emergency iDoctor-in-assistance (HEiDi).
This study describes the development and 4-month (April 6, 2020 – Aug 2, 2020) results of the HEiDi pathway. Results of the study indicate that the interprofessional team of virtual physicians and nurses were able to advise nearly 3 out of 4 patients away from in-person emergency or clinic assessment within 24 hours, while 1 in 7 were advised to seek immediate emergency department care. These findings suggest that virtual physicians can provide an effective complement to a provincial health telephone system. Data collected through the study serves to develop mechanisms that can flexibly adapt to serge of call volume situations and guide the integration of this service to be the sustainable part of HealthLink BC after COVID recovery.
Citation:
Ho, K., Lauscher, H. N., Stewart, K., Abu-Laban, R. B., Scheuermeyer, F., Grafstein, E., Christenson, J., & Sundhu, S. (2021). Integration of virtual physician visits into a provincial 8-1-1 health information telephone service during the COVID-19 pandemic: A descriptive study of HealthLink BC emergency iDoctor-in-assistance (HEiDi). CMAJ Open, 9(2), E635-E641. https://doi.org/10.9778/cmajo.20200265
RUDi: Rural Urgent Doctors in-aid
The RUDi pathway provides peer-to-peer support for care providers facing emergency cases across BC.
RUDi physicians can support by:
- providing a second opinion about a patient
- reviewing a case
- running through simulation scenarios
- helping to navigate the healthcare system
- providing collaborative support in critical times
- other situations as needed by rural providers
Learn more about RUDI here.
