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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Gesundheitswesen 2024; 86(S 04): S275-S281
DOI: 10.1055/a-2325-0194
Original Article

Implementation of a telemedical urgency assessment procedure in the pediatric emergency room: evaluation results

Article in several languages: English | deutsch
Angelika Beyer
1   Institut für Community Medicine, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
,
Kilson Moon
1   Institut für Community Medicine, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
,
Thomas Hirsch
2   Klinik für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
,
Holger N. Lode
3   Klinik und Poliklinik für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
,
Wolfgang Hoffmann
1   Institut für Community Medicine, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
,
Neeltje van den Berg
1   Institut für Community Medicine, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
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Abstract

Background In rural areas in Germany, the number of emergency departments with pediatric expertise decreases. Telemedicine solutions are used sporadically, but they lack certain parameters for assessing a child's health status, such as touch and smell. We tested and evaluated the implementation of a telemedical, cross-hospital urgency assessment in pediatric emergency rooms. The telemedical urgency assessments were carried out via video conferences and were compared to the usual on-site procedure. Primary results of the concordance analysis have been published elsewhere. This work describes the results of the evaluation of the implementation.

Methods The telemedical urgency assessment was carried out in 5 pediatric emergency departments during the years 2015-2019. Various methods were used to evaluate the implementation. The following reports are based on (a) a parent questionnaire with two statements to be evaluated (entire project duration), (b) a survey of the physicians using telemedicine after each case (entire project duration) and (c) detailed process documentation (July 2017 until end of the project).

Results A total of 266 patients under 18 years old, recruited from four hospitals, were included in the study. (a) 210 parents completed the questionnaire. 78% of the parents felt adequately cared for and 70% could imagine telemedicine becoming established as a future supplementary care procedure. (b) The physicians' questionnaires for the telemedicine site were completed in 232 cases (87%). The average satisfaction rating was 1.8 on a 6-point-likert-scale (95% confidence interval: 1.64; 1.95). (c) The most frequent implementation problem concerned the technical implementation of the video conference. The evaluation of the accompanying documentation revealed in particular implementation barriers in the technical area (e. g. limited video and/or audio quality) and in the provision of human resources.

Conclusion Despite implementation barriers, the project showed that telemedical urgency assessment in acute pediatric care is a promising option for supporting care. Most of the participating clinicians needed a high level of support, which in some cases indicated a rather low level of digital competence. Increasing acceptance of telemedicine functionalities requires changes in society as a whole with improved framework conditions.

Keywords

telemedicine - acute pediatrics - primary care - rural regions - triage

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Publication History

Accepted Manuscript online:
13 May 2024

Article published online:
15 August 2024

© 2024. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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