Pediatric Emergency Physicians' Comfort Level Providing Urgent Care for Adults on Telemedicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience at an Academic Medical Center.
Cureus
; 14(6): e26145, 2022 Jun.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1964576
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Our objectives were to assess the comfort level of pediatric emergency physicians (PEPs) providing urgent care to adult patients on telemedicine (APOTM) when redeployed during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, how it changed over time, and what resources were helpful. Materials andmethods:
We conducted a retrospective pre-post cross-sectional survey of PEPs providing urgent care to APOTM with COVID-19 symptoms during the COVID-19 surge from March 12, 2020, to June 12, 2020 (the "care period") at two academic pediatric emergency departments in New York City. A retrospective chart review was also conducted. We include data on demographics of PEPs and adult patients; comfort level of PEPs providing urgent care to APOTM with COVID-19 symptoms pre- and post-three-month care period and effective resources.RESULTS:
Sixty-five PEPs provided urgent care to 1515 APOTM with COVID-19 symptoms during the care period. Pre-pandemic, 22/43 (51%) of responders feared caring for APOTM; 6/43 (14%) were comfortable. At the end of the care period, 25/42 (58%) of the responders stated they were comfortable caring for these patients. Factors associated with increased comfort level were increased volume of patients over time, treatment algorithms, group support via electronic communication, and real-time back-up by a general emergency medicine (GEM) physician. Reduced medicolegal liability was also cited.CONCLUSION:
With minimal additional training and resources, PEPs can increase their comfort to provide urgent care to APOTM with COVID-19 symptoms. As future pandemics may disproportionately affect certain patient populations (adults versus pediatrics), interventions such as treatment algorithms, group support via emails and texts, and sub-specialty backup should be incorporated into redeployment plans for urgent care telemedicine programs. Future research is needed to determine the adaptability of other medical specialties to cross-cover a different specialty from their own if needed.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Language:
English
Journal:
Cureus
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Cureus.26145
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