The adult cystic fibrosis team at University Hospital Galway is using online video conferencing to replace face-to-face outpatient appointments during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr Michael O’Mahony, the adult cystic fibrosis physician, said the hospital obtained Sláintecare integration funding at the start of the year for a telemedicine project. This involved delivering a physiotherapy service via online video link to patients to increase the hospital’s level of physiotherapy input into their care between their scheduled outpatient appointments.
“We were lucky to have the set-up in place so that when social distancing became a necessity at the hospital and most outpatient appointments were cancelled, we turned to this technology.
“Our patients now have a video consultation with the team here in the hospital. We talk to the patients individually about their care in terms of our different specialties. Patients get to speak to myself, the clinical nurse specialist, the dietitian, the physiotherapist, and our psychologist as required, via the video link. Each of the team can access the video link in different consultation rooms which means that we are able to observe social distancing as well.
“The video consultation covers everything that the patient would normally get from a consultation in the hospital apart from spirometry testing and measuring vital signs but we are planning to roll out further technology-based solutions to record this physiological data from the patient’s home going forward as part of a pilot study.”
Dr O’Mahony appealed to people to comply with the public health advice to protect themselves and others during the Covid-19 health emergency.
“I urge everyone to comply with all the public health advice to keep yourself and others protected. Hand hygiene, cough etiquette, and staying at home are all very important if we want to slow down the spread of this disease and save lives.”
