The Grant Project will establish an adoption pathway and implementation framework for a digital tool to enhance telehealth connectivity between remote, rural and regional (RRR) patients cared for by the Queensland Children’s Hospital (QCH) Spine Outpatient service by specialist Spine Orthopaedic Surgeons at QCH.
This work seeks to address the barriers for patients/families and spinal specialists to adopt, and for QCH to implement, a new digital technology app, ScoliDoc. This technology provides a superior telehealth experience for children with spine deformity (scoliosis) living in RRR areas plus the obvious Queensland Health cost savings. This enhanced connectivity between QCH spine specialists and RRR families allows quality care and regular monitoring to reach patients faster by avoiding the inconveniences (travel, time lost, school and workdays lost) in addition to starting conservative and preventative type treatments sooner, before the scoliosis gets worse, and surgery is the only option. RRR patients and their parent/carer will be invited to have a ‘mock review’ appointment with one of the six QCH spine specialists using the enhanced telehealth + ScoliDoc method. This ‘mock review’ will occur in the month following their actual face-to-face QCH appointment so that the participants and scoliosis specialist doctor can evaluate the enhanced telehealth experience and education package and provide feedback as to how the experience and the technology may be improved, without it affecting the adolescent’s current scoliosis care pathway.