SEARCH 2020 kicked off on the afternoon of November 11, 2020 with introductory remarks from Dr. Elizabeth Krupinski who, among many things, went over some housekeeping and thanked individuals who helped plan the event as well as the organizations involved. Krupinski also noted that during this bleak time of pandemic, it coincidentally was an exciting time for research with “adjusted outlooks” and “raised opportunities.”
Dr. Leslie Morland continued to push the event pass the starting line with her plenary talk, Virtual Mental Health Care in the Veterans Health Administration: An Immediate Response to COVID-19, which was all the more pertinent since it was Veteran’s Day. Morland acknowledged that with all the rapid changes due to the Public Health Emergency and the rush to telehealth, there was “no going back” when it comes to technology in healthcare. Since the pandemic, through evaluation and with an 11-fold increase in video visits and a 5-fold increase in phone visits by June of this year, the VA discovered their clients felt little to no difference between video visits versus in person visits. Phone only visits are just as comparable due to the overall simplicity versus using a smart device. In closing, Morland declared that “teletherapy is very much going to outlive this pandemic.”
After the plenary talk, the poster session began with an array of interesting and worthy research topics: Teledermatology triage cost savings in urban settings; Clinical telehealth vs telehealth as a health delivery system tool; Bedside telemedicine during a pandemic; Opioid treatment; Reducing NICU stay; and Evaluating telehealth access disparities at a pediatric clinic during the pandemic.
The last scheduled presentation of the day was a panel, Social Determinants and Health Equity in Telehealth: A Fireside Chat, with Dr. Kenny Kronforst, Jennie Joseph, and Dr. Jennifer Reneker. Dr. Kronforst opened by outlining steps that were taken in Illinois during the early days of the pandemic and the deluge of data that came from the virtual-sphere. In response to this and to make the most of it, the Telehealth Datamart program was created to synthesize and validate the data. The preliminary data showed a lower percent of completed visits among non-English speakers and lower video visits among Latinx patients. Next steps include mapping to other indexes and surveying providers and parents. Kronfrost was followed by Jennie Joseph, a midwife who’s worked with high risk mothers to bridge the gap of maternal morbidity. Her vision is that all women have access, connections, knowledge, and empowerment, “building a movement to birth a more just and loving world.” Maternal morbidity is much higher among black women and looking at social determinants provide relevance, but Joseph emphasized that it’s important to understand that “materno toxicity” can surface anywhere. With the shift to telehealth, Joseph was able to maintain care while also maintaining client satisfaction. Since March of this year, out of 180 women, only 2 were born pre-term. Dr. Jennifer Reneker was the last to present, and her project focused on diagnosis and treatment of concussions using virtual reality (VR). Working in Mississippi where sports are a huge part of the state’s culture, she noted the lack of state requirements for certified trainers or professionals to be present at sporting events where many others states do have such a mandate. Reneker also noted that in light of this fact, the state’s telehealth capacities were “exceptional.” In 2017, they established Heads Up Mississippi, a program to provide comprehensive prevention, diagnosis, and research. Part of this program was the development of a VR tool in order to diagnose and research concussed participants. VR can engage users through an immersive atmosphere, create novel environments, continuously measure movements (e.g. eye tracking), and analytics can be sent to a computer where a clinician can synchronously or asynchronously meet up with the patient in the VR metaverse. After their presentations, the three professionals discussed their projects and disparities at large.
The day ended with two networking tables (i.e. virtual breakout rooms), Stories from the field: pediatric telehealth challenges, success, and future directions hosted by Dr. David McSwain, and Conducting multi-site telemedicine trials research: challenges and solutions hosted by Dr. Jonathan Neufeld.
For more information about the conference or the SEARCH Society, visit here: https://searchsociety.org/
