PRACTICE PARTNER
eConsult Allows Doctors to Tap into
Prompt Advice from Specialists
D
Dr. Clare Liddy
r. Sarah Newbery’s teenage
patient was presenting with
a shoulder issue that the
Marathon family physician had
never previously encountered.
"She had limited range of motion, and
a scapular crepitus that I had not seen – or
heard – previously," remembers Dr. Newbery.
The wait for the patient to see a pediatric
orthopedic surgeon – a service that is not
available locally and is limited in the region –
could take months,
Fortunately, Dr. Newbery had recently
enrolled in a program that allowed her to
consult with specialists throughout the
province, using a web-based tool. With her
patient's permission, Dr. Newbery took a
30-second video of the patient moving her
arm. The video not only captured the
abnormal shoulder movement,
but the audio also picked up
the crepitus.
"Within five minutes, I was
able to create an eConsult
note to a pediatric orthope-
dic surgeon and attach the
video and ask my questions
about appropriate imaging and
management. The next day, I
had a response that addressed all of
my questions and allowed me to support
the patient much more quickly than if she
had had to wait for a face to face visit with an
orthopedic surgeon, and without me order-
ing unnecessary or unhelpful tests," said Dr.
Newbery.
Dr. Newbery said she also appreciated the
fact that her patient and her family did not
have to travel unnecessarily. "The coordina-
tion of her care was quite seamless as it all
happened in the context of her "medical
home" in primary care." she said.
That was not the only time that Dr. New-
bery used eConsult to inform her clinical
decision-making. She has used it regularly for
dermatology cases, psychiatry cases and other
musculoskeletal patient cases. "I live in a
region of the province with limited special-
ist access and eConsult allows me to access
specialists that are not available in my region.
I value the flexibility of being able to add im-
ages and video as well."
Since the launch of the Ontario eConsult
Program in June 2018, the program has
helped inform the clinical decision-making of
thousands of health-care professionals like Dr.
Newbery. More than 48,000 eConsults have
been submitted since its launch.
Supported by the Ministry of Health and
Long-Term Care, the program connects
physicians and nurse practitioners to special-
ists via a secure, web-based tool. Through
eConsult, physicians and nurse practitioners
can receive prompt and secure advice from
more than 90 specialties, including: addiction
medicine, genetics, chronic pain, transgender
care, cardiology, rheumatology, and neurol-
ogy. Physicians and nurse practitioners receive
ISSUE 3, 2019 DIALOGUE
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