Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Northern Health, 185 Cooper Street, Epping, Vic. 3076, Australia; and Centre for Digital Transformation of Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic. 3000, Australia.
Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Northern Health, 185 Cooper Street, Epping, Vic. 3076, Australia; and Centre for Integrated Critical Care, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic. 3000, Australia.
Aust Health Rev. 2022 Jun;46(3):284-288. doi: 10.1071/AH22032.
We describe the design and implementation of an intensive care unit (ICU) virtual visiting program in a metropolitan ICU in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, to examine patterns of use, and describe clinician acceptance of this technology. This was a mixed-methods study, comprising a retrospective analysis of virtual visits from 18 August to 30 September 2020. Patterns of utilisation included duration and time of visits, as well as bandwidth used. A post-implementation survey on a Virtual Visiting program based on the technology acceptance model was sent to clinicians; results were reported on separate scales for usefulness and usability. Publicly available telecommunication solutions were unsuitable for virtual visiting, whereas dedicated telehealth solutions needed modification to improve accessibility by patients and families. During the study period, 69 virtual visits were made with a median length of 10 min (range 1-80 min). A total of 72.5% of calls were made during office hours (09:00-17:00 h), with the latest occurring at approximately 21:30 h. Virtual visits required a mean bandwidth of 1224 kbps (download) and 940 kbps (upload), and consumed 0.7 GB (range 0.0-7.0 GB) and 0.5 GB (range 0.0-6.7 GB) of download and upload data. Clinicians reported a mean score of 2 (range 1-4) for perceived usefulness and 3 (range 1-6) for the perceived ease of use. Virtual visiting is a feasible alternative in the ICU, with good acceptance by clinicians. Challenges include safety and usability of videoconferencing platforms, as well as bandwidth requirements. Future health service design should consider support for dedicated virtual visiting solutions, as well as ensuring adequate bandwidth capabilities for this service. Further studies are needed to assess patient and family acceptability of this technology.
我们描述了在澳大利亚维多利亚州墨尔本的一家大都市重症监护病房 (ICU) 中实施 ICU 虚拟探视计划的设计和实施情况，以检查使用模式，并描述临床医生对这项技术的接受程度。这是一项混合方法研究，包括对 2020 年 8 月 18 日至 9 月 30 日期间的虚拟探视进行的回顾性分析。使用模式包括探视的持续时间和时间，以及使用的带宽。根据技术接受模型，我们向临床医生发送了一份关于虚拟探视计划的实施后调查；结果分别按有用性和易用性报告。公共电信解决方案不适合虚拟探视，而专用远程医疗解决方案需要进行修改，以提高患者和家属的可访问性。在研究期间，共进行了 69 次虚拟探视，中位数时间为 10 分钟（范围 1-80 分钟）。其中 72.5%的通话是在办公时间（9:00-17:00）进行的，最晚的通话时间约为 21:30。虚拟探视需要平均 1224 kbps（下载）和 940 kbps（上传）的带宽，消耗 0.7GB（范围 0.0-7.0GB）和 0.5GB（范围 0.0-6.7GB）的下载和上传数据。临床医生报告的感知有用性平均得分为 2（范围 1-4），感知易用性平均得分为 3（范围 1-6）。虚拟探视是 ICU 的一种可行替代方案，临床医生对此的接受程度较高。挑战包括视频会议平台的安全性和易用性，以及带宽要求。未来的卫生服务设计应考虑支持专用虚拟探视解决方案，并确保该服务具备足够的带宽能力。还需要进一步的研究来评估患者和家属对这项技术的接受程度。
