• Mahmoud Nadar, Philippe Jouvet, Marisa Tucci, Baruch Toledano, Martin Cyr, and Claude Sicotte.
• Department of Nursing and Health Sciences, Université du Québec en Outaouais, C.P. 1250, Succursale Hull, Gatineau, Quebec, J8X 3X7, Canada; Department of Management, Evaluation and Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of Montreal, 7101 Park Ave, Montreal, Québec, H3N1X9, Canada; Public Health Research Institute of the University of Montreal, 7101 Park Ave, Montreal, Québec, H3N1X9, Canada. Electronic address: Mahmoud.nadar@uqo.ca.
• Int J Med Inform. 2019 Sep 1; 129: 219-225.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of implementing a synchronous telemedicine platform in a pediatric intensive care unit (STEP-PICU).MethodA prospective mixed study was conducted. Two sources of data were mobilised: a survey with structured questionnaires and direct non-intrusive observation. The study site was the PICU of a university hospital. Users' perceptions of six aspects of the STEP-PICU were studied: telemedicine system quality, data quality, quality of technical support, use of the new system, overall satisfaction and system benefits.ResultsDuring the 6-month experimentation period, use of the telemedicine platform was rather limited and fell short of the promoter's expectations.The mean scores for the six user perception dimensions were low, with no differences between the two groups of users. A Mann-Whitney test showed that being an off-site pediatric intensivist or on-site fellow did not make a statistically significant difference in responses on system quality (p = .518), data quality (p = 1.00), quality of technical support (p = 1.00), system use (p = .556), overall satisfaction (p = .482), or benefits (p = .365). The low use of the STEP-PICU was attributed to three root causes: human factors, the platform's functionalities, and technical problems.DiscussionThe synchronous telemedicine service for PICU was feasible but would need good pre-implementation preparation to be truly helpful. Its usefulness during the night shift and holiday on-call periods was scored as low by the off-site pediatric intensivists and the on-site fellows. It would appear that such a service could be more beneficial for communications with other remote healthcare facilities, where there is a greater need for the expertise of a pediatric critical care intensivist.Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

10 keywords...

hide…