Embracing virtual care at The Ottawa Hospital’s new campus

Nov 19, 2024

 

One of the lasting changes to care since the COVID-19 pandemic is increased access and ability for health-care workers to connect with patients virtually.   

When lockdowns and restrictions prevented patients from meeting with their physicians or care team in person, TOH embraced digital technology and expanded virtual care options to stay connected.  

Video appointments that were used infrequently before the pandemic became a creative solution to keep patients and care teams connected.  And we continue to see the benefits today.  

“Prior to the pandemic, video visits existed through the Ontario Telemedicine Network, but it was sporadically used, mainly due to patient and care provider unfamiliarity and complexity of scheduling,” says Dr. Heather Clark, Medical Director of Ambulatory Care at The Ottawa Hospital. “We started doing virtual care using Zoom integrated into our electronic records during the pandemic out of necessity. When we realized we could provide care in a timely manner and to a larger population, many of our physicians and medical specialists started saying ‘How can I use this in my practice?’”

It quickly became clear that virtual care wasn’t just going to be a temporary solution.  

“As we resumed in-person visits, many patients expressed hope that virtual care would still be an option,” says Dr. Clark. “Whether it’s because of work schedules, issues with transportation or patients who live outside of the city, there are many sociodemographic variables that made virtual care very appealing for patients – not just for the people we serve in the region but for many patients in Nunavut who travel to TOH for care.” 

The Ottawa Hospital worked to identify the types of visits that could benefit from being done virtually, as well as visits more suited to in-person care, such as those requiring a higher level of personal trust and appointments requiring detailed physical exams.

The technology of virtual care

With a new state-of-the-art campus on the way, we’re integrating advanced technologies and building on some of the creative solutions born out of the pandemic to enhance patient experience. 

“From a technology perspective, we know that the new campus will provide many opportunities that greatly enhance patient care,” says Natalie Cleroux, Director of Clinical Services in Ambulatory Care at The Ottawa Hospital. “There’s a better understanding now of how digital solutions can make care more accessible, helping us improve overall patient satisfaction and reduce wait times.” 

Research conducted by TOH has demonstrated the effectiveness of virtual care with remote monitoring, highlighting its potential for future expansion. TOH’s perioperative program took part in clinical trials of virtual recovery after non-elective surgery, which saw patients use remote monitoring that detected medication errors, reduced patient pain and lowered readmission rates. In a separate clinical study, remote monitoring identified a potentially life-threatening arrhythmia in a patient, resulting in them having a defibrillator inserted and being prescribed daily medication, improving their quality of life.

The Ottawa Hospital is looking at the benefits of digital wearables, which could perform a variety of tasks such as monitoring and reporting on a patient’s vital signs, blood pressure, blood glucose and more.  According to Dr. Clark, the ability to monitor patients remotely in this way would take virtual care beyond the outpatient setting.  

“The function of digital wearables to provide ongoing patient health-care information from home creates an opportunity for asynchronous care, meaning we can provide ongoing responsive or proactive care beyond just the times we’re on video or phone calls together with the patient,” she says. “The information collected by these devices would be uploaded to a patient’s record and care teams would monitor and respond to the data. Then the specialist team could provide care in what would essentially be a virtual hospital.”

“Patients actually continuing to live their lives in their homes with remote patient monitoring is just one of the huge opportunities for tomorrow,” says Reece Bearnes, Executive Director of Clinical Services in Ambulatory Care at The Ottawa Hospital. “Our whole ambulatory care strategy is all about using digital and virtual tools to change the way patients experience their care – really putting them in the driver’s seat.”   

In addition to remote monitoring, TOH is exploring a host of other ways that technology can enhance both virtual and in-person visits, including directional wayfinding and self-scheduling functionality, allowing patients to book and manage their own appointments and self-check-in at kiosks in the event of line-ups at the registration desk. Expanding the capabilities of virtual care will help TOH reshape the future of health care.

“We want to trial and test these things now so that when the new campus opens, we’ll be ready,” says Natalie. “The timing of the new campus development makes it absolutely the right time to push these opportunities forward.”