Virtual Urgent Care program<\/a> ramped up at the beginning of October after it was tested slowly over several months, Turner said.<\/p>\nThere is an administrator to help co-ordinate and register patients and one emergency room physician available from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Expansion is possible, depending on the public\u2019s response to the service and staffing abilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, if we can expand, there will be a second doctor for another shift. It will be like a four-hour shift for each physician,\u201d Turner said.<\/p>\n
The service is meant for patients who need timely medical assessments but can\u2019t otherwise get \u201ca prompt appointment with a family doctor or nurse practitioner,\u201d according to the hospital\u2019s guidelines.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have now this website where we have very clear indications of what type of cases we should see but also cases that we are not supposed to see,\u201d Turner said.<\/p>\n
The virtual emergency consultations are designed to address acute problems. The VUC, he said, isn\u2019t just limited to \u201cseeing\u201d patients \u2014 the doctor can prescribe medication, order blood work and X-rays and make follow-up appointments and referrals to specialists.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are systems in place for us to continue the investigations if needed, thereby avoiding them coming to the emergency department,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While the start was slow with a physician only seeing four to five patients per shift, Turner said there have been 18 to 20 patients per four-hour block in the last few days.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s far too early to tell if there are fewer people coming to the JGH\u2019s physical ER as a result, he added, though he believes the service will help with patient access alongside other means like 811, traditional ERs and primary-care doctors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is just one more access that some patients, hopefully, will be able to benefit from,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Who shouldn\u2019t book an appointment? <\/p>\n
Patients experiencing critical health concerns \u2014 such as chest pain, severe breathing difficulties and stroke symptoms \u2014 should go to their closest ER or call 911.<\/p>\n
The VUC is also not for non-urgent issues, Turner said, like needing an off-work note or having a persistent cough for six months. The hospital\u2019s website said the service does not offer \u201crenewals of long-term medication for chronic conditions, nor do we perform annual checkups.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really is for an acute problem that is written on the website,\u201d Turner said.<\/p>\n
The JGH\u2019s guidelines also note the patient must be present and able to participate in the video call. They are also required to be physically in Montreal at the time of the appointment.<\/p>\n
\u201cAssessment cannot be provided to someone else who attends on the patient\u2019s behalf,\u201d the JGH says on its website.<\/p>\n
Patients who are 18 years and older and who live in Montreal are eligible for the service. They must also have a valid Quebec health insurance (RAMQ) card.<\/p>\n
klaframboise@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Montreal\u2019s Jewish General Hospital is offering a new way to access emergency care: through a video call. A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":943876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392,218268],"class_list":["post-943875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-quebec-health-care"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=943875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/943876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=943875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=943875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=943875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}