Virtual Care & Remote Presence
Virtual Care and Remote Presence are types of technology that provide real time clinical services remotely. Healthcare professionals and specialists in tertiary care provide consultation, guidance and support to patients, families, and teams located in another location of the province. Remote Presence can support:
- Real-time consultation
- Recognition and stabilization, assessment, diagnosis, and management at the bedside
- Decision for patient disposition and ongoing support until transport team arrives
- Involvement of the family which is family centered and culturally safe
- Build relationships and collaboration with sites and teams
Maternal and Children’s Provincial Program Pediatric Transport Team and Pediatric Intensivists began providing this clinical service in 2014 in Pelican Narrows. This clinical service is now available in seven locations and in August 2023, this clinical service is expanding to four additional rural facilities in Saskatchewan.
The technology in Saskatchewan consists of larger robotics such as RP-Vita and smaller portable devices such as “doc-in-a-box”.
The Remote Presence – Telehealth and Pediatric Transport in Saskatchewan Video provides an overview of remote presence, the current and future locations, and how this technology assists with pediatric care in Saskatchewan.
A Teledoc Lite Robot - Training Video is available for health care providers to provide a brief overview of the Lite robot and the steps necessary to use the remote presence robot with patients and families in your facility.
More information about virtual care and remote presence in pediatrics can be found at the University of Saskatchewan Virtual Care and Remote Presence website.
Thank you to Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and the First Nations University of Canada for funding grants to continue evolution of remote presence and research in rural and remote Indigenous Communities.