Description: The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated virtual care models of care, including Virtual Emergency departments (EDs). Since 2020, a Virtual ED has been operating out of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, which allows patients with urgent but non-life-threatening issues to book same-day video appointments via Zoom. This service aims to reduce wait times, improve patient experience, and reach underserved populations while decreasing unnecessary in-person ED visits. In-person EDs are currently experiencing unprecedented levels of patient volumes, and older adults represent 20-40% of these visits.

While the Virtual ED may serve as a viable option for older adults, they may face barriers accessing it due to low levels of digital literacy or cognitive and sensory impairments. Identifying ways to improve uptake of Virtual EDs may serve to optimize older adult care while relieving existing pressures experienced by overcrowded EDs. This webinar will provide an overview of a research study that is aiming to: 1) explore how older adults are using the Virtual ED; 2) describe the barriers older adults may face in using it; and 3) efforts being undertaken to co-create strategies to raise awareness and access to the Virtual ED.

Attendees will:

• Be able to describe the services provided by a Virtual ED.
• Learn about the types of reasons older adults visit the Virtual ED and their outcomes.
• Gain a deeper understanding of what facilitates access and use of the Virtual ED by older adults, and what challenges they encounter.

Speakers:

Dr. Justin Hall is an emergency medicine physician and Chief of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and the Medical Director for Toronto’s Virtual Emergency Department, and Affiliate Scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute (SRI). He is an Assistant Professor in Quality and Innovation in the Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Sander Hitzig is the Program Research Director of the St. John’s Rehab Research Program at SRI, and holds the John C. and Sally Horsfall Eaton Chair in Rehabilitation Research. He is an Associate Professor, Affiliated Scientist in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy and the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute (Temerty Faculty of Medicine), and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.

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