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Learn about the innovative eAcute system allowing remote patient monitoring, timely test results, and prioritized care in hospital settings, reducing unnecessary inpatient stays and improving patient outcomes.
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eAcute Dr Paul Sullivan Clinical Director of Quality Improvement, Salford Royal Foundation Trust Senior Quality Improvement Fellow, Centre for Healthcare Improvement Research, Imperial College, London
Risks of hospital stay • Risk of infection • Risk of medical accidents • Medication errors • Loss of control • Discomfort, sleeplessness • Disruption
Medical Reasons? • Treatment only available in hospital • Monitoring • Risk of rapid deterioration • Temporary increase in care needs
Survey • Daily review of general medical inpatients in a medical ward– 240 bed days • Classified into 19 “reasons” • 15% of patients did not need to be in hospital
Survey of medical wards • 23% of medical in-patients “stable” • Review of cases by expert panel – 9.6% could be managed at home • Of patients delayed for <2 weeks, 43% were due to medic behaviour
Survey of medical wards • Daily visit to medical wards, each team contacted • Able to identify that 15% of in-patients could be managed in virtual ward system • Average LOC after identification 10 days
Things have moved on since then • Delays in diagnostics removed • LOS saved likely to be 1-2 days
Reasons for delay • Waiting for test • Waiting for results • Waiting for opinion • Waiting for senior review
Why? • Medics apprehensive about discharge – loss to f/u, delay to first OPA • Team need to make a decision(s) straight after the next test(s) • No knowledge of OP services
Is there a better way of managing these patients? • Could they be at home?
Survey on 28 bed EAU 2006 • Could this patient be safely and effectively managed at home
Audit on 28 bed AMU • Could this patient be safely and effectively managed at home • 2-7 patients each day
Alternatives • Traditional OPD setting has limits • Time between available follow up slots • Patient “visible” only at clinic visit • Availability of diagnostics
Time to next FOLLOW UP slotGen med 2-11 weeks • Cardiology 17 weeks • GI 8 weeks • Chest 7 weeks
Alternatives • Priority patients can be managed at home by individual clinicians • Time consuming, no support, numbers limited • Risk of loss to follow up
An electronic patient list to which multiple users can add and which can be seen by all members of the Acute Medicine team. • Every weekday at 10am = virtual ward round • This is attended by Acute Medicine consultants, mid grades and FY doctors and the advanced practitioner nurse on the EAU. • Every patient is discussed every week-day. • Junior staff are available to arrange tests, liaise with diagnostic depts etc.
If tests are inappropriately delayed we notice immediately and rectify • Results are seen immediately and consultant level decisions follow • Patients can be reviewed as often as needed by telephone • Patients can be recalled to EAU for bloods or clinical assessment • We have arrangements with radiology, cardiology and endoscopy so that virtual ward patients are accorded high priority
Ideal for • Time-Critical investigation • High risk if inadvertent delays • High risk if DNA
Ideal for Rapid/serial decisions on test results Test 2 depends on test 1 Early/frequent communication with pt
Implementation • Not as easy as it seems
Critical features • Watertight – IT solution ideal • Access 24/7, anywhere • Embedded in daily work • Redundancies – can’t be forgotten
I know, with absolute certainty, that if I send a patient home on Sunday, a trusted consultant will pick up the issues on Monday.
Critical features • PrioritisationPatients are regarded as in-patients by: • Radiology • Endoscopy • Echo, ETT
Our story…. • Developing IT solution • Making it work in the normal day • Getting radiology to prioritise • Getting other departments to prioritise
Sustaining • Constant vigilance for fall off in prioritisation • Local ownership • Keeping it team wide • Just add hot water!
4096 bed days in 24 months 5.7 beds free on any day Roll out – estimate additional 5-10 beds 23 minutes per day for 2 consultants and team 50 minutes per day for a JD
Transfer • Make it watertight – daily case review prevents delays, loss to follow up etc. • Timetable daily senior case review so it is guaranteed. Several people need to be involved to ensure that this happens every day, regardless. • Develop an electronic patient list that is visible to all members of the team all the time – initial attempts with individual paper lists failed • Choose an area with high patient throughput so that there are always some virtual patients to review, otherwise it is difficult to maintain the habit. • Start with a single investigation, we used CT pulmonary angiogram, and get clinical directors involved.