Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association
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Because of centralization of care, pediatric patients often require transfer for subspecialty care. We evaluated the impact of telemedicine critical care consultation and a pediatric hospitalist program on enabling patients to remain at a community hospital. ⋯ Telemedicine consultation between pediatric intensivists and community hospital physicians combined with a pediatric hospitalist program at the community hospital has the potential to improve triage of pediatric patients and reduce the need to transfer patients.
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Access to specialist advice remains a barrier for primary care providers (PCPs) and their patients. Virtual consultations have been used to expedite access. There are few studies demonstrating the utilization and impact of such services. We established a regional e-consultation service that was used across a wide range of specialty services and PCPs. ⋯ We successfully implemented an e-consultation service across diverse PCPs and specialty services that was highly valued. Almost half of referrals submitted would have required a face-to-face consultation if the service had not been available. Thus e-consultation has tremendous potential for improving access to specialist advice in a much more timely manner than the traditional referral-consultation process.