To explore clinician insights on the Tele-Emergency Care (TEC) program and its impact on emergency care delivery.
Approach:
Program Overview: The TEC program allows veterans to connect with emergency medicine clinicians via telephone or video for acute symptoms, potentially avoiding unnecessary ED visits.
Implementation: TEC has expanded nationally since 2020, utilizing a nurse-led triage system and integrating with the VA's electronic health record.
Clinical Engagement: Clinicians engage directly with patients at home to address acute concerns, aiming to resolve issues without requiring in-person visits.
Key Findings:
TEC clinicians resolved acute concerns in over half of encounters (Li et al. 2023).
There was a reported 5.5% reduction in subsequent ED visits associated with TEC (Tran et al. 2023).
Hospital admission rates and short-term mortality remained unchanged (Tran et al. 2023).
Interpretation:
TEC represents a novel workforce model in emergency care, differing from traditional telemedicine by focusing on unscheduled encounters with acute symptoms.
Limitations:
The study primarily focused on healthcare utilization and safety, with limited exploration of clinician experiences.
Conclusion:
TEC has the potential to alleviate ED crowding and improve patient care by providing timely access to emergency clinicians.
