Date of this Version

2022

Document Type

DNP Project

Abstract

Title An Educational Module on the Benefits of Telehealth Assisted Preanesthetic Evaluations Impact Statement Healthcare systems are always seeking new ways to increase efficiency, save on costs, and provide quality care for their patients. The use of telehealth in the preanesthesia setting is a tool that can help to further improve a healthcare system’s ability to achieve these goals. This project will be a step towards determining the support for and viability of telehealth utilization in the preanesthesia setting. Background/Purpose/Question Surgery cancellations are a significant problem with the potential for far-reaching consequences. Unexpected day-of-surgery cancellations can be costly to both the patient and the health care team. Telemedicine and telehealth are readily available tools for overcoming obstacles to accessing health care. Their use can improve patient outcomes, primarily by reducing the transportation time and costs and increasing the access to physicians. However, there is relatively little data on provider attitudes on the use of telemedicine to reduce cancellations and surgical delays. This project aims to answer: Among anesthesia providers (P), is an educational module designed to improve knowledge of the effectiveness of telehealth-assisted PAE (I), when compared to face-to-face preoperative assessment (C), effective in increasing provider knowledge (O) that leads to an improvement in the quality of patient care, the experience of the patient, its effect on staff, productivity, and cost-savings potential? Methods/Evidence Search Using the keywords listed under “Eligibility Criteria,” a search was conducted on CINAHL. Non-English, non-peer-reviewed articles were eliminated from the search, as well as articles older than 10 years. The same steps were taken with PubMed and Google Scholar. A total of 152 articles were found as potential evidence sources. Sources meeting criteria based on title were 44. Sources meeting criteria based on abstract were 13. Finally, sources meeting criteria based on full text were 8: a systematic literature review, a prospective randomized trial, a case-controlled study, a quasi-experimental study, a retrospective study, 2 descriptive studies, and a mixed methods approach. A total of 7 of the studies were performed in the United Sates while 1 was done in Australia. Synthesis of Literature/Results/Discussion A systematic literature review was conducted by Schoen and Prater. The results of their systematic review found that PAE can be successfully performed using telehealth and that patients also reported satisfaction with utilization of telehealth when performing PAE. For this project, the pre-test and post-test assessed if the educational module enhanced the participants attitude and perception of the use of telehealth during the PAE. The results show that after an educational module was shown, perception of the technology improved. Future research should focus on creating experiments with larger sample sizes and implementing the technology to see what real-world benefits the technology can offer. Conclusions/Recommendations for Practice 4 Telehealth is an increasingly relevant topic in the healthcare industry. It can provide many benefits to both the provider and the consumer. The project shows that presenting the topic and educating providers about the topic can make them more open to using the technology in their practice. Information gained from this project can be used to determine the feasibility of implementing this technology at health care facility where anesthesia providers practice.

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