‘This is the future of health care’

Hospital patients who are being treated for certain ailments or need to be hooked up to an IV for antibiotics may soon be cared for from the comfort of their couch.

The province has relaunched the virtual medicine ward, a program first used during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Winnipeg hospital patients, who have been assessed as stable, spend their final days before discharge recovering at home.

They are monitored by doctors and nurses using Zoom calls, and medical devices connected through the Internet.

The program frees up much-needed hospital beds.

“This is the future of health care,” said Dr. Shawn Young, chief medical officer of the Health Sciences Centre, Manitoba’s largest hospital.

“These are people who would otherwise be in a hospital bed. So they are still sick, that they need hospitalization… they still need the IV antibiotics, they still need the oxygen. We can now actually safely move some of them back home, but give them the supports they need to stay connected to providers in the hospital in case things change with their status.

He said the model blends acute in-patient care with the comforts of home.

“This is the future of health care.”

The program is currently designed to take patients who have mild to moderate illnesses, including COPD, RSV, influenza and COVID-19, as well as those who need IV antibiotics. Since it began operation in September, 15 patients have taken part, releasing the equivalent of 90 hospital bed days.

It currently has the capacity to treat 30 patients at one time.

Doctors and nurses monitor the patients seven days a week, from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and paramedics with the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service follow up overnight.

Each patient is outfitted with a tablet that’s connected to medical equipment such as oxygen-saturation and blood-pressure monitors.

Young said paramedics will go into people’s homes if blood work is needed or an IV must be connected.

The program is expected to be of huge benefit as the respiratory season ramps up.

Ryan Woiden, president of the Paramedics of Winnipeg, said paramedics “strongly support” the initiative.

He said community paramedicine already plays a role in caring for patients at home, which reduces pressure on emergency departments.

“While Winnipeg is currently facing a serious shortage of paramedics, we are eager to learn more about how this innovative approach can help expand access care.”

“While Winnipeg is currently facing a serious shortage of paramedics, we are eager to learn more about how this innovative approach can help expand access care and strengthen this important resource for our community,” Woiden said.

Shared Health has hired four nurses for the virtual program; a fourth nursing position and three clerk positions are to come.

Patients who have participated have come from the Health Sciences Centre, St. Boniface Hospital, Grace Hospital and Concordia Hospital.

Health officials say only three patients had to be returned to hospital since it launched.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the benefit is apparent.

“This is really about giving people choices and offering the ability to get care in the comfort of their own community,” Asagwara said. “We just want to make sure we are doing everything we can to make sure patients are getting care at the right place and that we’re doing what’s necessary to also ensure patient flow through the system to reduce those pressures on our emergency departments.”

“This is really about giving people choices and offering the ability to get care in the comfort of their own community.”

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Sunday Passages

Sundays

Kevin Rollason’s Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba.

Sign up for Sunday Passages

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

The minister said patients have the comfort of knowing they are being watched closely and can be returned to hospital quickly if needed.

Young said he can envision the day when more patients are treated at home than in hospital.

“Governments are not going to want to build more hospitals and increase hospital beds because of the incredible expense,” he said, pointing out there is risk associated with a hospital stay.

“Every eight or 12 hours, your care is transitioned to somebody else. More importantly, there are a lot of bugs and bacteria and viruses here that get shared quite frequently because of the closed basis. People can get sick here.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.

Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.