Contribution of Live Video to Physicians' Remote Assessment of Suspected COVID-19 Patients in an Emergency Medical Communication Centre: A Retrospective Study and Web-Based Survey.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
; 20(4)2023 Feb 14.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2242494
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on emergency medical communication centres (EMCC). A live video facility was made available to second-line physicians in an EMCC with a first-line paramedic to receive emergency calls. The objective of this study was to measure the contribution of live video to remote medical triage. The single-centre retrospective study included all telephone assessments of patients with suspected COVID-19 symptoms from 01.04.2020 to 30.04.2021 in Geneva, Switzerland. The organisation of the EMCC and the characteristics of patients who called the two emergency lines (official emergency number and COVID-19 number) with suspected COVID-19 symptoms were described. A prospective web-based survey of physicians was conducted during the same period to measure the indications, limitations and impact of live video on their decisions. A total of 8957 patients were included, and 2157 (48.0%) of the 4493 patients assessed on the official emergency number had dyspnoea, 4045 (90.6%) of 4464 patients assessed on the COVID-19 number had flu-like symptoms and 1798 (20.1%) patients were reassessed remotely by a physician, including 405 (22.5%) with live video, successfully in 315 (77.8%) attempts. The web-based survey (107 forms) showed that physicians used live video to assess mainly the breathing (81.3%) and general condition (78.5%) of patients. They felt that their decision was modified in 75.7% (n = 81) of cases and caught 7 (7.7%) patients in a life-threatening emergency. Medical triage decisions for suspected COVID-19 patients are strongly influenced by the use of live video.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Emergency Medical Services
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Ijerph20043307
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS