Health-care professionals caring for critically ill patients at three small hospitals in northeastern Ontario have been getting a virtual helping hand from their colleagues at Sudbury Regional Hospital, thanks to a pilot project.
Through the Virtual Critical Care Pilot, the intensive care unit team in Sudbury has made itself available for emergency video consultations at the Kirkland and District Hospital in Kirkland Lake, the Temiskaming Hospital in the City of Temiskaming Shores and the Lady Minto Hospital in Cochrane.
The goal of the project, the first of its kind in Ontario, was to demonstrate that providing emergency video consultations to intensive care units at small hospitals is feasible.
It was an exciting project. We think it made a difference.
Dr. David Boyle,
local physician involved in the Virtual Critical Care Pilot
The project, which utilizes the Ontario Telemedicine Network, started in April 2009 and was supposed to last only a year. However, the service is still being provided to these hospitals on an interim basis.
Over the course of the pilot project, 30 consultations were provided — 23 in Kirkland Lake, five in Temiskaming Shores and two in Cochrane.
Eleven patients were stabilized and did not have to be transferred out of their communities to a larger hospital.
On average, it took less than 30 minutes for doctors in Sudbury and the smaller hospitals to make a connection and discuss patient care.
“It was an exciting project,” Dr. David Boyle, a local physician involved in the project, said, after making a presentation about the project at Sudbury Regional Hospital's board of directors meeting Feb. 9.
“We think it made a difference. I think patients enjoyed it, and physicians and nurses at both ends really enjoyed it.”
Boyle gave an example of how his team helped a patient on a respirator who had been breathing with some difficulty.
Because of the video link, a respiratory therapist in Sudbury was able to see the dials on the respirator machine, and help doctors caring for the patient make adjustments.
“Within four or five minutes, the respiratory therapist was able to troubleshoot and solve the problem, just as he would here,” Boyle said.
“The patient got significantly better quickly, and didn't have to be transferred. It made a huge difference.”
Boyle said he hopes the project will be expanded to other small hospitals in the northeast.
“There are some logistical hurdles, but we think that, yes, it's a worthwhile project to expand across our Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) and across several other LHINs that have similar geography to us and similar small hospitals,” he said.
Dr. Denis Roy, president and CEO of Sudbury Regional Hospital, said he's known about the project for a “long time,” but he wasn't aware of how successful it had been until seeing the presentation at the board meeting.
He said he sees a day when the hospital is able to administer virtual “wards,” with patients receiving care at home.
“This program is an example of what this hospital can be as a leader in medical innovation,” Roy said, in a press release put out by the hospital. “We can improve patient care by thinking of new ways to deliver health care. We're very proud of this project, and look forward to where this type of innovation will lead us.”
