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Who And How: Telemedicine Eligibility And Participant Guidelines In The Ambulatory Setting, Tracy Jalbuena, Rebecca Hemphill, Megan Selvitelli, Jasmine Bishop, Adam Ouellette, Rachel Alfiero

Journal of Maine Medical Center

Introduction: Telehealth use has dramatically increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet there are significant gaps in evidence regarding the clinical appropriateness of synchronous visits for ambulatory telemedicine that are under the umbrella of telehealth and defined as video appointments between patients and providers. As a result, there are few sensible guidelines for day-to-day practice, resulting in a lack of standardization and risk of suboptimal care.

Methods: We developed patient inclusion/exclusion guidelines for use in ambulatory telemedicine. Complementary tools included guides on patient preparation, telemedicine physical exam, and provider etiquette. We analyzed telemedicine use by practice type and surveyed a …

Improving Type And Screen Specimen Collection Prior To Elective Surgery, Nordx Blood Bank Staff, Haley Pelletier, Suneela Nayak, Stephen Tyzik, Ruth Hanselman

Maine Medical Center

To avoid delays in the availability of compatible blood for elective surgery patients requiring transfusion, a type and screen specimen should be completed at least 24 hours prior to surgery. Baseline metrics in an acute care inpatient blood bank demonstrated a significant number of cases with no type or screen completed.

The objective of this KPI was to prevent any delays in providing compatible blood products to scheduled surgical patients. Several internal and external system issues were identified as a result of a root cause analysis and a number of actions were initiated.

Outcomes have been positive. Data collection post …