Virtual visitation

Virtual visitation, also known as virtual visits and video visits, is the use of video calling technology to facilitate communication between hospitalized patients and their loved ones when physical visits are unable to be facilitated. Virtual visitation is distinct from telemedicine because the former is a video call is between patient and their family or friends, which may or may not include any healthcare personnel. Virtual visitation became widely adopted in 2020 because of visitation restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Overview

Virtual visitation usually occurs between a patient who is admitted to a healthcare facility and their friends or family who are unable to visit the healthcare facility in person. The visit can be for emotional and social support, or to facilitate medical decision making with, or on behalf of, the patient. In some cases, more than two parties can be on the call using video conferencing technology. The involvement of the healthcare team in such calls may also be telerounding (occurring during daily rounds, for example) or virtual family meeting (occurring with the patient and healthcare team at a time separate from daily rounds).

Technology

Virtual visitation requires technology to facilitate the visit. Both the patient (or healthcare facility where the patient is admitted) and the family or friends need to have the hardware, software, and adequate bandwidth for a successful visit to occur. Additionally, the ability to operate and troubleshoot the hardware and software on both ends of the call is required.

Hardware

Frequently, patients have their own smartphone, tablet, or laptop computer with them at the healthcare facility. However, when hardware is unavailable or the patient is unable to operate the hardware (for example, due to severity of illness), then some healthcare facilities are able to provide hardware, often in the form of a tablet, for the patient to use. The patient’s family and friends must have access to and be able to operate their own device.

Software

A number of readily available video calling apps have been utilized for virtual visitation, including Skype, WhatsApp, FaceTime, Zoom, and Google Hangouts. The specific app that is used should take into consideration the type of device (e.g. FaceTime is only available for Apple products) that is available to all parties. There have also been privacy and security concerns with regard to some of the video calling apps.

Bandwidth

Both parties must have adequate bandwidth to support the video call, which includes both download and upload speeds. If videoconferencing (i.e. more than two parties) is desired, then more bandwidth may also be needed. In situations where there is heavy simultaneous use of videoconferencing, for example during the COVID-19 pandemic, then the bandwidth must be even greater to support all of the calls. Ability to operate and troubleshoot There must be at least one person on each end of the video call or video conference who is able to operate the device and make the connection to the call, and also be able to troubleshoot if there are any problems which occur with starting the call or during the call.

See also

Telemedicine – video calling technology used to conduct a healthcare encounter between a patient and a healthcare provider.

External links

Submitted by Da Jin --Dpjin (talk) 22:56, 19 October 2020 (UTC)