Special Episode 12. Virtual ED with Dr Loren Sher

Most doctors in Australia are now very familiar with the use of telehealth and, in some cases, video health, as they have both been widely used during the Covid-19 pandemic. Northern Health, with its flagship Northern Hospital located in Melbourne's Epping, in conjunction with La Trobe University, has been incredibly innovative in extending the concept of the virtual consultation and establishing Australia's first virtual emergency department, which commenced on October 1, 2020.

Commenced during the Covid-19 pandemic, the virtual emergency department has already treated more than 28,000 patients, with up to 71% avoiding hospital presentation after receiving advice and instructions via video conference. This exciting new way of triaging patients and delivering care in real-time has profound implications for the ambulance service and translates to fewer trips, less transport, and more ambulances available to attend the next triple zero emergency or next lights and sirens emergency. While transport by ambulance to the hospital may extend up to eight or nine hours, it takes only 40-60 minutes for the average case attended by ambulance services to go through the virtual ED, highlighting the obvious advantage of this service.

In this conversation, I was interested in learning how consultations and advice regarding real-time home monitoring were provided and about the decision-making behind the instructions for patients to stay at home for treatment in conjunction with patients' primary health care providers, versus prompt transfer to the hospital for more specific urgent medical care. I was also curious to learn how the department is staffed and how it has partnered with the ambulance and home nursing services to dramatically improve the delivery of emergency medical care at home and aged care facilities and favourably reduce the need for patient transfer.

I was also hoping to gain a sense of the likely future of the service as developed by the Northern and its utility across Australia generally. I suspect we are rapidly approaching a tipping point for the provision of emergency services through the establishment of virtual emergency departments, and the possibility of bringing augmented reality into this equation makes for an exciting horizon.

It was a great pleasure to invite Dr. Loren Sher to this podcast. Loren is the head of paediatric emergency at The Northern Hospital and is also the clinical director of the Victorian Virtual emergency department. She is committed to outstanding paediatric care in the community as well as education at the University, hospital, and external level. As you shall see from our conversation, she brings energy, enthusiasm, and incredible optimism, which I am certain has helped her define success in her every endeavour.

Please welcome Dr. Loren Sher.

References:

nh.org.au

Victorian Virtual Emergency Department - Northern Health

Dr Loren Sher: au.linkedin.com, wildhealth.net.au

To be a guest on the show or provide some feedback, I’d love to hear from you: manager@gihealth.com.au.

Dr Luke Crantock MBBS, FRACP, is a gastroenterologist in practice for over 25 years. He is the founder of The Centre for GI Health, based in Melbourne, Australia, and is passionate about educating General Practitioners and patients on disease prevention and how to manage and improve their digestive health.