The use of telehealth to assist remote hospital resuscitation and aeromedical retrieval tasking: a 12-month case review

Abstract

We evaluated the use of telehealth for patients who had suffered a cardiac or respiratory arrest, and were medically coordinated from the Queensland coordination hub at Townsville. We conducted a review of all cardiac or respiratory arrest cases where teleheath had been used prior to aeromedical retrieval. The doctors involved in the cases completed an evaluation form about the use of telehealth during the resuscitation. During the 12-month study period 6460 patients were medically coordinated from Townsville. Telehealth was used 51 times, i.e. for 0.8% of all transfers. Of the 51 uses of telehealth, nine were for patients having a cardiac/respiratory arrest, i.e. 18% of telehealth use at Townsville was for patients undergoing resuscitation following cardiac or respiratory arrest. All eight medical coordinators and three of eight referring doctors responded to the survey. Most medical coordinators stated that telehealth assisted communication and aided assessment. Most medical coordinators and some referring doctors felt that it improved the quality of patient care. The free text comments on telehealth use for remote area resuscitation were generally very supportive. While the telehealth equipment was easy to use, minor audio problems reinforce the need for systems to be wholly reliable. A set of guidelines to aid future telehealth assisted resuscitation was produced. The present study suggests that telehealth use is beneficial during active resuscitation efforts.