Contribution of Live Video to Physicians’ Remote Assessment of Suspected COVID-19 Patients in an Emergency Medical Communication Centre: A Retrospective Study and Web-Based Survey

Robert Larribau (), Beth Healey, Victor Nathan Chappuis, Dominique Boussard, Florent Guiche, Tara Herren, Birgit Andrea Gartner and Laurent Suppan
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Robert Larribau: Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Anaesthesiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, CH 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Beth Healey: Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Anaesthesiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, CH 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Victor Nathan Chappuis: Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Anaesthesiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, CH 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Dominique Boussard: Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Anaesthesiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, CH 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Florent Guiche: Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Anaesthesiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, CH 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Tara Herren: Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Anaesthesiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, CH 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Birgit Andrea Gartner: Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Anaesthesiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, CH 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Laurent Suppan: Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Anaesthesiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, CH 1211 Geneva, Switzerland

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on emergency medical communication centres (EMCC). A live video facility was made available to second-line physicians in an EMCC with a first-line paramedic to receive emergency calls. The objective of this study was to measure the contribution of live video to remote medical triage. The single-centre retrospective study included all telephone assessments of patients with suspected COVID-19 symptoms from 01.04.2020 to 30.04.2021 in Geneva, Switzerland. The organisation of the EMCC and the characteristics of patients who called the two emergency lines (official emergency number and COVID-19 number) with suspected COVID-19 symptoms were described. A prospective web-based survey of physicians was conducted during the same period to measure the indications, limitations and impact of live video on their decisions. A total of 8957 patients were included, and 2157 (48.0%) of the 4493 patients assessed on the official emergency number had dyspnoea, 4045 (90.6%) of 4464 patients assessed on the COVID-19 number had flu-like symptoms and 1798 (20.1%) patients were reassessed remotely by a physician, including 405 (22.5%) with live video, successfully in 315 (77.8%) attempts. The web-based survey (107 forms) showed that physicians used live video to assess mainly the breathing (81.3%) and general condition (78.5%) of patients. They felt that their decision was modified in 75.7% (n = 81) of cases and caught 7 (7.7%) patients in a life-threatening emergency. Medical triage decisions for suspected COVID-19 patients are strongly influenced by the use of live video.

Keywords: dispatch; emergency medical dispatch; emergency medical communication centre; video live; COVID-19; emergency call; video triage; public safety answering point; telemedecine; emergency medical services; remote assessment; triage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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