NSW Teleburns – Embracing Burns Telehealth

Miranda Pye¹, Kate Nieuwendyk¹,
¹Concord Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, NSW, Australia

Abstract

Concord Repatriation General Hospital’s (CRGH) Burns Unit continues to provide and enhance telehealth support to 11 separate Local health Districts (LHD’s). In 2019 Concord Burns Unit began its partnership with eHealth NSW to enhance rural Burns Telehealth in NSW. “NSW Teleburns” uses eHealth NSW’s state-wide unified communications platform and high definition video cameras that connect burns patients from rural NSW with Specialists at Concord Burns Unit.

Following on from the success of Phase 1 of the “NSW Teleburns” pilot at Griffith Hospital, Phase 2 commenced in September 2022. Phase 2 has further enhanced Burns Telehealth, with the addition of 5 key rural sites, allied health support and use of MedSync to upload photos into NSW Health’s Electronic Image Repository (EIR).

During the 6 months of Phase 2, 88% of rural burns patients referred to Concord, where solely managed via “NSW Teleburns” and did not require face to face review or admission to the Burns Unit. On average patients required three “NSW Teleburns” consultations, which is comparable with patients who attend Concord Burns Ambulatory Care Clinic.

The success of the NSW Teleburns Pilot has led to implementation of this system permanently at Concord Burns Unit. We will continue to enhance our Telehealth service and hope that this system is rolled out to additional sites in the near future.

Biography

Miranda is a Nurse Practitioner at Concord Repatriation General Hospital Burns Unit