TY - JOUR T1 - Enabling patient communication for hospitalised patients during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic JF - BMJ Innovations JO - BMJ Innov SP - 316 LP - 320 DO - 10.1136/bmjinnov-2020-000636 VL - 7 IS - 2 AU - Smitha Ganeshan AU - Esther Hsiang AU - Theodore Peng AU - Nicholas Thomas AU - Ilana Garcia-Grossman AU - Kavon Javaherian AU - Zoe Lyon AU - Arpana Vidyarthi Y1 - 2021/04/01 UR - http://innovations.bmj.com/content/7/2/316.abstract N2 - Summary boxWhat are the new findings?Inpatient telehealth programmes can augment care delivery by enhancing patient connection to outside support systems.Successful implementation and sustainability of telehealth programmes require new workflows to minimise burden on frontline clinicians.This case study demonstrates that a video visit consult service can be feasibly implemented across diverse health systems.How might it impact on healthcare in the future?In the future, inpatient telehealth programmes may connect patients to social support mechanisms beyond family members and loved ones, including expert consultants from other institutions or patients’ outpatient primary and specialist clinicians.As COVID-19 spread across the globe, hospitals restricted visitors to protect patients and healthcare providers.1 The absence of in-person visitors, who play a central role in patient well-being and clinical decision making by clarifying medical histories and bridging linguistic and cultural divides, left patients vulnerable to social isolation, delirium and fragmented clinical care.2 With ongoing COVID-19 infections, health systems continue to grapple with how to support patients and loved ones during visitor restrictions.3Many technology-driven innovations emerged during COVID-19 to conserve personal protective equipment, protect healthcare workers and prevent nosocomial transmission, but, to our knowledge, this was the first programme designed by medical trainees with the specific goal of connecting patients with their loved ones.4–8 Here, we describe the design and early impact of an inpatient video-conference telehealth initiative, and we provide a model for health systems interested in designing similar telehealth programmes to connect patients and loved ones. The objective of this initiative was to reconnect patients with their loved ones during COVID-19-related visitor restrictions across diverse hospital settings to improve patient experience and care delivery.SettingResident physicians and medical students provide clinical care at three affiliated health systems, including a large tertiary referral centre, a county hospital, and a veterans administration hospital (VA). Sites were chosen because of their central affiliation with the … ER -