How a pandemic changed advanced nurse practitioner (ANP) chest pain assessment from face-to-face to virtual: The impact on clinical workload, diagnosis & patient safety

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Chest pain presentations to the Emergency Dept. (ED) account for 8% of ED cases annually. In response to the pandemic the usual care pathway of nurse-led assessment in ED and discharge to a chest pain clinic (Ingram 2017) ceased, as face-to-face clinics and diagnostics were curtailed, and staff redeployed. A virtual chest pain clinic was created by one ANP. Telehealth is defined as ‘the entire spectrum of activities used to deliver care remotely, without direct physical contact with the patient’ (Wosik 2020) Purpose This analysis aims to compare the outcomes of the Covid-19 virtual chest pain clinic in 2020 to the same face-to- face clinic period in 2019 with a focus on i. Clinic workload, ii. Patient Outcomes iii. Patient Safety, Methods The ANP performed a telephone consultation and referred for limited diagnostic testing or discharged to primary care. The patient management system (iPIMS) was used as a clinical and audit tool. This service evaluation was registered as quality improvement project. Results From 1/4/20 to 21/7/2020, 130 e-referrals were received compared to 154 face-to-face consults in the same period of 2019. The overall number of clinic episodes was 17% greater during the pandemic period (Fig.1), carried out by 1/3 of the 2019 staff quota. Access to exercise stress testing (EST) was reduced by 88%. CHD was diagnosed in 26%. Virtual assessment in this high risk group in the absence of timely diagnostics is a risk however 30 day mortality was 0%. Discussion The pandemic of covid-19 required a rapid redesign of the chest pain service in the midst of staff redeployment. Whilst the total number of referrals is less that the same timeframe in 2019 the ‘virtual’ nature of the service created additional episodes of care with the need for the return clinic in person or by telephone. Conclusion In response to the pandemic the change to a virtual clinic was enabled by ANP experience and permitted continued safe discharge of chest pain patients from the ED. The virtual service does add to the ANP clinical workload with potential risk. As it requires more office time, it prevents the ANP presence in the ED. It is hoped in time to return to the original model of care as this will be more efficient for the service and the patient.

Conceptual considerations for using EHR-based activity logs to measure clinician burnout and its effects

Electronic health records (EHR) use is often considered a significant contributor to clinician burnout. Informatics researchers often measure clinical workload using EHR-derived audit logs and use it for quantifying the contribution of EHR use to clinician burnout. However, translating clinician workload measured using EHR-based audit logs into a meaningful burnout metric requires an alignment with the conceptual and theoretical principles of burnout. In this perspective, we describe a systems-oriented conceptual framework to achieve such an alignment and describe the pragmatic realization of this conceptual framework using 3 key dimensions: standardizing the measurement of EHR-based clinical work activities, implementing complementary measurements, and using appropriate instruments to assess burnout and its downstream outcomes. We discuss how careful considerations of such dimensions can help in augmenting EHR-based audit logs to measure factors that contribute to burnout and for meaningfully assessing downstream patient safety outcomes.

GPs’ views on the use of depression screening and GP-targeted feedback: a qualitative study

Purpose The first aim of this qualitative study was to identify general practitioners’ (GPs’) views on depression screening combined with GP-targeted feedback in primary care. The second aim was to determine the needs and preferences of GPs with respect to GP-targeted feedback to enhance the efficacy of depression screening. Methods A semistructured qualitative interview was conducted with officially registered GPs in Hamburg (Germany). Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. An inductive approach was used to code the transcripts. Results Nine GPs (27 to 70 years; 5 male) from Hamburg, Germany, participated. Regarding depression screening combined with GP-targeted feedback, five thematic groups were identified: application of screening; screening and patient–physician relationships; GPs’ attitudes towards screening; benefits and concerns related to screening; and GPs’ needs and preferences regarding feedback. While the negative aspects of screening can be described in rather general terms (e.g., screening determines the mental health competence, screening threatens the doctor–patient relationship, revealing questions harm the patients), its advantages were very specific (e.g., promoting the identification of undetected cases, relief of the daily workload, wider communication channel to reach more patients). Standardized GP-targeted feedback of the screening results was perceived as helpful and purposeful. GPs preferred feedback materials that eased their clinical workload (e.g., short text with visuals, pictures, or images). Conclusion Addressing GPs’ needs is essential when implementing depression screening tools in clinical practice. To overcome prejudices and enhance the efficacy of screening, further education for GPs on the purpose and application on depression screening may be needed. Standardized GP-targeted feedback in combination with depression screening could be the missing link to improve the detection of depression in primary care.

Mobile app-based Remote Patient Monitoring in Acute Medical Conditions: A Prospective Feasibility Study Exploring Digital Health Solutions on Clinical Workload during the COVID Crisis. (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Digital remote patient monitoring (RPM) can add value to virtual wards; this has become more apparent in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare providers are overwhelmed resulting in clinical teams spread more thinly. We aim to assess the impact of the introduction of an app-based RPM (Huma Therapeutics) on a clinician's workload in the context of a COVID-19 specific virtual ward. OBJECTIVE This prospective feasibility study aims to evaluate the health economic effect (in terms of clinical workload) a mobile app has on a telephone based virtual ward in the monitoring of COVID-19 patients clinically ready for discharge from hospital. METHODS A prospective feasibility study was carried out over one month where clinician workload was monitored, and full time equivalents (FTE) savings equated. An NHS hospital repurposed a telephone-based respiratory virtual ward for COVID-19. Amber status (NHS definition) COVID-19 patients were monitored for 14 days post-discharge to help identify deteriorating patients earlier. A smartphone-based app was introduced to monitor data points submitted by the patients with telephone calls used for communication. A comparison of clinical workload between those monitored by telephone only (Cohort 1) with those monitored via mobile app and telephone (Cohort 2) was undertaken. RESULTS 56 patients were enrolled in the app-based virtual ward (Cohort 2). Digital RPM reduced the number of phone calls from a mean total of 9 to 4 over monitoring period. There was no change in the mean duration of phone calls (8.5minutes), and no reports of readmissions or mortality. This equates to a mean saving of 47.60 working hours. This translates to 3.30 fewer FTEs (raw phone call data), resulting in 1.1 fewer FTEs required to monitor 100 patients when adjusted for time spent reviewing app data. Individual clinicians were averaging 10.9 minutes per day. CONCLUSIONS Smartphone-based RPM technologies may offer tangible reductions in clinician workload at a time of severe service strain. In this small pilot, we demonstrate the economic and operational impact digital RPM technology can have in improving working efficiency and reducing operational costs. Whilst this particular RPM solution was deployed for the COVID-19 pandemic, it may set a precedent for wider utilisation of digital RPM solutions in other clinical scenarios where increased care delivery efficiency is sought. CLINICALTRIAL

The patient encounter index: a novel method of measuring clinical workload in a paediatric cardiology service

Technological advances have led to better patient outcomes and the expansion of clinical services in paediatric cardiology. This expansion creates an ever-growing workload for clinicians, which has led to workflow and staffing issues that need to be addressed. The objective of this study was the development of a novel tool to measure the clinical workload of a paediatric cardiology service in Cape Town, South Africa: The patient encounter index is a tool designed to quantify clinical workload. It is defined as a ratio of the measured duration of clinical work to the total time available for such work. This index was implemented as part of a prospective cross-sectional study design. Clinical workload data were collected over a 10-day period using time-and-motion sampling. Clinicians were contractually expected to spend 50% of their daily workload on patient care. The median patient encounter index for the Western Cape Paediatric Cardiac Service was 0.81 (range 0.19–1.09), reflecting that 81% of total contractual working time was spent on clinical activities. This study describes the development and implementation of a novel tool for clinical workload quantification and describes its application to a busy paediatric cardiology service in Cape Town, South Africa. This tool prospectively quantifies clinical workload which may directly influence patient outcomes. Implementation of this novel tool in the described setting clearly demonstrated the excessive workload of the clinical service and facilitated effective motivation for improved allocation of resources.

Total Workload for Radioactive Facilities with Volumetric Modulated Arc Treatment

In recent years, there have been major changes in radiotherapy, particularly in dose delivery for treatments using the techniques of Three-Dimensional Conformal Radiation Therapy (3D-CRT), Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) and Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT). However, in the literature, no workload results for radiation therapy treatments performed exclusively with the VMAT technique were found. In this study, a new workload and a new VMAT factor will be proposed. For such, patient data originating from management and planning systems were acquired, such as dose values, monitor units, numbers of arcs per patient and number of hypofractionated treatments. The average clinical workload values for conventional treatments were 328 Gy/week, resulting in a VMAT factor of 1.97; similarly, for hypofractionated treatments, the clinical workload was 33Gy/week and the VMAT factor was 1.54. The total workload has a value of 596 Gy/week, less than the value used in the facility shielding design, 1250 Gy/week, and the average value of VMAT factor for conventional and hypofractionated treatments showed that a smaller amount of C should be used at facilities that perform exclusive VMAT treatment.