Virtual Trauma and Critical Care Unit
Yes, VMIA have been consulted and asked to provide
formal advice to the project on these areas.
The advice received so far includes:
Property. - It is understood that ownerhsip of the equipment used will be transferred across to the hospital for insurance purposes from the commencement of the pilot.
Patient Record and Consenting - These issues should be addressed by participating hospitals and dealt with according to existing protocols and best practice. Our expectation would be that any communication regarding a patients hospital attendance be deemed part of their record of attendance be that a paper record or a visual record such as is proposed by the ViTCCU technology. Ultimately, the defence of any adverse event is reliant upon evidence and in some circumstances the video capture of a referral may be of vital importance in such a case - therefore its formation as part of the patients medical history and storage according to hospital standards is deemed appropriate.
At this stage we have no additional comment to make in respect of Professional Indemnity or Medical Indemnity issues. We are undertaking an internal process to review "virtual" technologies in light of your program and the SWARH program that operates in western Victoria and we will liaise with you further if there are issues that we believe require further discussion.