Cargando…

Rapid introduction of virtual consultation in a hospital-based Consultant-led Antenatal Clinic to minimise exposure of pregnant women to COVID-19

The COVID-19 global pandemic dictated rapid change to outpatient services within our London-based maternity hospital. Coupled with long waiting times in the Consultant-led Antenatal clinic, we aimed to reduce hospital footfall and unnecessary contact with a clinically vulnerable patient population b...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Tavener, Christina Rose, Kyriacou, Christopher, Elmascri, Imene, Cruickshank, Amy, Das, Sabrina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8761597/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35027342
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2021-001622
_version_ 1784633562964688896
author Tavener, Christina Rose
Kyriacou, Christopher
Elmascri, Imene
Cruickshank, Amy
Das, Sabrina
author_facet Tavener, Christina Rose
Kyriacou, Christopher
Elmascri, Imene
Cruickshank, Amy
Das, Sabrina
author_sort Tavener, Christina Rose
collection PubMed
description The COVID-19 global pandemic dictated rapid change to outpatient services within our London-based maternity hospital. Coupled with long waiting times in the Consultant-led Antenatal clinic, we aimed to reduce hospital footfall and unnecessary contact with a clinically vulnerable patient population by reducing face-to-face consultations. Numerous specialties have already successfully implemented safe and effective teleconferencing, allowing remote review while reducing the risks posed by face-to-face contact. A target to see at least 15% of women remotely was set to reduce footfall in the Consultant-led Antenatal Clinic. We aimed to reduce face-to-face waiting times to a mean of 30 min. In March 2020, clinics were prevetted by the clinic consultant to carefully select appropriate women suitable for video or telephone consultations. Clinic templates were changed, increasing appointment times by 5–25 min each. ‘AccuRx’ software was tested and used to communicate appointment details and conduct the consultation. In-person waiting times in the clinic and number of virtual consultations over a 3-month period was recorded, along with qualitative feedback from service users and staff through surveys and departmental meetings. Mean waiting times were reduced by 33% from 45–30 min and multiple service-user benefits were noted, including partner involvement, convenience of waiting for appointments at home and removing requirement for childcare. However, limitations of internet connectivity, need for time to prevet clinics and lack of a robust administration system to inform women of their appointment type were highlighted. Further work is required in these areas to ensure sustainability and improvement of this process for the future.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8761597
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher BMJ Publishing Group
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-87615972022-01-18 Rapid introduction of virtual consultation in a hospital-based Consultant-led Antenatal Clinic to minimise exposure of pregnant women to COVID-19 Tavener, Christina Rose Kyriacou, Christopher Elmascri, Imene Cruickshank, Amy Das, Sabrina BMJ Open Qual Quality Improvement Report The COVID-19 global pandemic dictated rapid change to outpatient services within our London-based maternity hospital. Coupled with long waiting times in the Consultant-led Antenatal clinic, we aimed to reduce hospital footfall and unnecessary contact with a clinically vulnerable patient population by reducing face-to-face consultations. Numerous specialties have already successfully implemented safe and effective teleconferencing, allowing remote review while reducing the risks posed by face-to-face contact. A target to see at least 15% of women remotely was set to reduce footfall in the Consultant-led Antenatal Clinic. We aimed to reduce face-to-face waiting times to a mean of 30 min. In March 2020, clinics were prevetted by the clinic consultant to carefully select appropriate women suitable for video or telephone consultations. Clinic templates were changed, increasing appointment times by 5–25 min each. ‘AccuRx’ software was tested and used to communicate appointment details and conduct the consultation. In-person waiting times in the clinic and number of virtual consultations over a 3-month period was recorded, along with qualitative feedback from service users and staff through surveys and departmental meetings. Mean waiting times were reduced by 33% from 45–30 min and multiple service-user benefits were noted, including partner involvement, convenience of waiting for appointments at home and removing requirement for childcare. However, limitations of internet connectivity, need for time to prevet clinics and lack of a robust administration system to inform women of their appointment type were highlighted. Further work is required in these areas to ensure sustainability and improvement of this process for the future. BMJ Publishing Group 2022-01-13 /pmc/articles/PMC8761597/ /pubmed/35027342 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2021-001622 Text en © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Quality Improvement Report
Tavener, Christina Rose
Kyriacou, Christopher
Elmascri, Imene
Cruickshank, Amy
Das, Sabrina
Rapid introduction of virtual consultation in a hospital-based Consultant-led Antenatal Clinic to minimise exposure of pregnant women to COVID-19
title Rapid introduction of virtual consultation in a hospital-based Consultant-led Antenatal Clinic to minimise exposure of pregnant women to COVID-19
title_full Rapid introduction of virtual consultation in a hospital-based Consultant-led Antenatal Clinic to minimise exposure of pregnant women to COVID-19
title_fullStr Rapid introduction of virtual consultation in a hospital-based Consultant-led Antenatal Clinic to minimise exposure of pregnant women to COVID-19
title_full_unstemmed Rapid introduction of virtual consultation in a hospital-based Consultant-led Antenatal Clinic to minimise exposure of pregnant women to COVID-19
title_short Rapid introduction of virtual consultation in a hospital-based Consultant-led Antenatal Clinic to minimise exposure of pregnant women to COVID-19
title_sort rapid introduction of virtual consultation in a hospital-based consultant-led antenatal clinic to minimise exposure of pregnant women to covid-19
topic Quality Improvement Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8761597/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35027342
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2021-001622
work_keys_str_mv AT tavenerchristinarose rapidintroductionofvirtualconsultationinahospitalbasedconsultantledantenatalclinictominimiseexposureofpregnantwomentocovid19
AT kyriacouchristopher rapidintroductionofvirtualconsultationinahospitalbasedconsultantledantenatalclinictominimiseexposureofpregnantwomentocovid19
AT elmascriimene rapidintroductionofvirtualconsultationinahospitalbasedconsultantledantenatalclinictominimiseexposureofpregnantwomentocovid19
AT cruickshankamy rapidintroductionofvirtualconsultationinahospitalbasedconsultantledantenatalclinictominimiseexposureofpregnantwomentocovid19
AT dassabrina rapidintroductionofvirtualconsultationinahospitalbasedconsultantledantenatalclinictominimiseexposureofpregnantwomentocovid19