The added value of video for consultations in telemedicine for minor injuries work

We examined the decisions made about transfer of patients with minor injuries, when telemedicine support was provided to the remote nurses in two different ways: the telemedicine doctor either used a video link, or a telephone call with viewing of digital X-ray images (a low resolution version of Picture Archiving and Communications Systems [PACS]). A quasi-randomized study design was used, with a panel of 20 emergency medicine doctors who independently reviewed previously-stored consultations using the two modalities. In total, 60 case reviews were conducted during five sessions, representing 33 different cases from the routine workload of Minor Treatment Centres in Scotland. More experienced doctors transferred fewer patients than less experienced doctors. The proportion of patients transferred was higher when PACS was used than when video was used in most of the cases. A mixed effects logistic regression model was fitted to the data. The estimated odds for patient transfer were 56% lower when video was used instead of PACS (odds ratio 0.44, 95% confidence interval 0.20, 0.93). Although the cost implications are not yet known, video support for local decision-making should remain the preferred method of telemedicine for minor injuries work.