When clinically appropriate, virtual care can be used to bring together people from multiple locations, providing an easy way to connect and share information with your patients, their loved ones and your colleagues.
Virtual care is designed to complement and enhance access to in-person care. As well as offering more choice, virtual care may sometimes be the best option to meet a patient’s needs.
It is now common practice for clinical services to offer a mix of in-person and virtual care modalities to support a patient’s healthcare journey. This is often called a hybrid care journey.
For example, this may involve a virtual triage, followed by an in-person assessment, which is followed by several episodes of care provided virtually using videoconferencing or telephone. Other mobile technologies may also be used, such as remote patient monitoring, to provide patient symptom and biomedical information to support healthcare management. The approach can be flexible, based on the needs of the patient.
Telephone
The use of telephone to support and deliver health services is the most common virtual service contact mode reported across all local health districts and specialty health networks in NSW.
Videoconferencing
The use of videoconferencing to support clinical care provides a real-time audio and video link between multiple participants.
Store and forward
The use of email is a tool to communicate between patients, carers and healthcare providers to support patient care.
Remote monitoring
Remote monitoring uses mobile technology to collect and send medical and healthcare data to an app, device or service outside the traditional clinical setting.
Apps and websites
There are a wide range of websites and apps available to support forms of virtual care functionality, including secure messaging, phone calls, videoconferencing, remote monitoring and educational information.
Incorporating virtual care into clinical practice can offer many benefits:
For patients and their families
- Opportunity to receive care closer to your home, support network and community or on Country
- Increased access to services not available in your area
- Reduced travel time, cost and inconvenience, with shorter waiting times and less disruption
- Supports family members and carers to play an active role in a person’s healthcare
- Allows members of your healthcare team in different locations to connect at the same time
- Reduced exposure to other illnesses
- Increased access for people with reduced mobility or other conditions
For healthcare professionals
- Enables access to specialist services and support
- Improved clinical networks and professional collaboration
- Reduces unnecessary travel and time away from commitments
- Supports flexible service delivery models and multidisciplinary care
- Supports models that promote integration across healthcare
- Provides a support network no matter where they are located across NSW
- Increased professional development opportunities.
For the health system
- Opportunities to provide more efficient care
- Reduced transfers and length of stay
- More collaborative ways of working.
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