Authors (including presenting author) :
Kwan HY(1), Amy Chan(2), Tommy Ng(3), Virginia Yip(4), Cheung HF(5), Lau YC(5), Ng PK(1), Ting KH(6), Dora Chan(7), Rosanna Chau(8), Fiona Hui(4), Leo Law(9), Allan Yam(10), Chris Tsang(11)
Affiliation :
(1)Department of Respiratory Medicine, Kowloon Hospital; (2)Patient Services, Kowloon Hospital; (3)Information Technology, Kowloon Central Cluster; (4)Central Nursing Division, Kowloon Hospital; (5)Department of Psychiatry, Kowloon Hospital; (6)Department of Rehabilitation, Kowloon Hospital; (7)Occupational therapy Department, Kowloon Hospital; (8)Physiotherapy Department, Kowloon Hospital; (9)Administrative Division, Kowloon Hospital; (10)Finance Division, Kowloon Hospital; (11)HCE, Kowloon Hospital
Introduction :
Due to Emergency Response Level during COVID-19 pandemic, visiting was not allowed in all wards. This exerted great stress to patients and their relatives which inevitably impaired their relationships with health-care workers. A people-centered initiative in providing virtual visit was put forward.
Objectives :
To provide and facilitate virtual face-to-face visit between patients and relatives through telecommunication.
Methodology :
Three guiding principles were followed when setting up the service: 1. Strictly observe infection control measures; 2. Respect patient’s privacy and confidentiality; 3. Minimize disturbance to hospital operation. We pledged to provide assistance to both patients and visitors who were incapable of making video calls themselves. Since March 2020, video visiting counters were set-up in non-clinical areas of KH. Only registered visitors who have made prior booking via a dedicated central hotline could gain access through checkpoints at hospital entrance at the scheduled time-slot. Counter staff and ward staff assisted visitors and patients respectively for the visit and performed thorough disinfection afterwards. A user survey was conducted in November 2021 to evaluate the service and provide insight for service modification. With the 5th wave of COVID-19 pandemics, more stringent infection control measures were implemented. Such on-site service was transformed to remote video visit after February 2022 to minimize people flow in hospital complex. After booking was made, a zoom link generated by KCC Tele-Visit Management System (TVMS) would be sent to visitors for tele-visit.
Result & Outcome :
Demand for video-visit service has been high for both on-site and remote video visit. Service capacity has been optimized to minimize service waiting time. Positive feedbacks have been received. Among the two-hundred visitors who completed the user survey, more than 90% of them were satisfied with our service. The success of this service came from the concerted effort of both clinical and non-clinical departments. This project was kick-started within a short timeframe smoothly, as the well-defined principles guided workflow design and elucidated everyone’s role and goal. It was modified in time to meet latest pandemic situation and service need. Provision of virtual visit improved patient morale and relieved the stress between relatives and hospital staff. Although the service demand declined after resumption of physical visit, we planned to continue this service to benefit patients staying in airborne infection isolation room(AIIR) where visiting was not allowed, and the critically ill patients whose relatives were overseas.
