Opportunity
The Virtual Support (VS) service utilises remote monitoring as an additional safety net to recognise and manage clinical deterioration. It aims to address clinical deterioration
through:
- Integrating robust clinical escalation and communication pathways;
- Improved education of onsite clinical staff;
- Bedside videoconferencing; and,
- Advanced remote monitoring that utilises alerts and advanced algorithms to provide clinical decision support for dedicated virtual care clinicians.
Through having a dedicated 24/7 “additional set of eyes and ears” supporting patient care with advanced remote monitoring tools, VS aims to provide earlier detection and more timely management of clinical deterioration across rural and remote facilities in WNSWLHD.
A mixed methods approach, adopting a quasi-experimental design will measure effectiveness and experiences of the VS service. Qualitative methods will be used to determine patient and clinician experience; quantitative analysis of routinely collected pre/post data will explore outcomes, clinician surveys will further explore clinician experiences of delivering virtual care and an economic evaluation will explore system impact. This study will provide new evidence in relation to remote monitoring/clinical deterioration warning systems in the provision of clinical decision support for patients in rural/remote settings, which may improve statewide rapid response systems.
This project is a collaboration between the DHCRC, WNSWLHD, the University of Sydney School of Rural Health and the Menzies Centre for Health Policy and Economics.
Project Objective
Overall aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of VS in identifying and managing clinical deterioration across rural facilities in WNSWLHD. Specific aims are to:
- Evaluate the patient, family and carer experience with VS
- Evaluate the clinician experience of VS
- Measure the impact of VS on patient outcomes
- Understand the economic implications of VS, including utilisation and sustainability of resources, compared to usual care
