Evaluation of Burn Rounds Using Telemedicine: Perspectives from Patients, Families, and Burn Center Staff.

INTRODUCTION: Burn care requires multiple disciplines to collaborate to achieve best patient care. Because of this, rounds involve a very large burn team to assess patients' wounds and formulate plans. To decrease the amount of team members on rounds, our burn center implemented a new budding technology: telemedicine. We created "Zoom Rounds," a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)-compliant, secure videoconferencing system to relay patient wound evaluations to a remote conference room where team members can participate digitally. We sought to evaluate this new rounding process by querying the burn team, patients, and families regarding their experience.

METHODS: Surveys were developed for each group and were distributed over a 2-month period. Respondents were asked to rate the videoconferencing rounding experience and comment on the educational experience (staff/providers) and one's personal experience (patient/family). We analyzed both the quantitative data with the qualitative responses. Qualitative data analysis for content was used to independently code and analyze responses to the open-ended survey questions by two authors and verified by adjudication review.

RESULTS: Thirty-three patients/families and 69 burn staff members completed the confidential survey (response rate of 90% and 83%, respectively). Coded responses identified several themes: inconsistent technology, improved visualization and communication regarding the wounds, better learning experience, and improved patient experience by decreased crowds in the room.

CONCLUSIONS: There was strong support for the use of videoconferencing for patient wound rounds among providers, burn center staff, and patients/families. Telemedicine is a promising technology to improve inpatient burn rounds.