Los Angeles-based Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center physicians are actively exploring the use of telemedicine in the perioperative space, according to Anesthesia Business Consultants President and CEO Tony Mira.
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center's Nirav V. Kamdar, MD, discussed the physicians' work at Anesthesiology 2018, Oct. 13-17 in San Francisco.
Here's what you should know:
1. Dr. Kamdar and his colleagues use a smart screen to help triage patients to a virtual preoperative visit, to an in-person clinic visit or directly to the operating room. The smart screen helps determine how to optimize patients' care in the OR.
2. To date, the group has completed around 250 preoperative evaluations involving patient logins from home electronic devices. The devices connect to the EMR, enabling patients to undergo thorough 30-minute examinations.
3. Patients with Bluetooth-enabled devices connect to "patient-centered flow sheets" that remotely capture data and upload it into the chart.
4. The overwhelming majority of patients reported satisfaction with the telemedicine experience, and 87 percent preferred the remote consultations.
5. UCLA physicians also use consumer-based monitoring tools to improve assessments and preoperative care. For example, a 66-year-old patient with ischemic cardiomyopathy who presented with severe fluid overload weighed himself daily on a Bluetooth-enabled scale before undergoing total knee replacement surgery.