Credit score: Unsplash/CC0 Public Area
There’s a nationwide scarcity of pediatric specialists, delaying care for a lot of sufferers. In some circumstances, youngsters wait weeks and even months for appointments. However now, in a research revealed within the journal Medical Pediatrics, researchers at UC Davis Well being present that e-consults—wherein main care pediatricians have direct entry to specialists—enhance look after younger sufferers.
Securely routed by means of the hospital’s digital well being document (EHR), e-consults are asynchronous “meetings” between main care physicians and specialists to debate a affected person’s care. As soon as the first supplier receives the seek the advice of, they report subsequent steps again to sufferers and their households.
“The pediatric specialist shortage can lead to longer wait times and poor health outcomes, especially for children with complex chronic conditions,” mentioned Ulfat Shaikh, professor of pediatrics for UC Davis Well being, medical director of Healthcare High quality and first writer on the research. “With e-consults, primary care physicians can ask for a second opinion, mitigating the need for families to make an in-person appointment with that specialist.”
Elevating consciousness about e-consults
The analysis was performed at UC Davis Well being’s pediatric well being clinic, which cares for round 2,800 youngsters and adolescents annually. Throughout the research interval, from January to December 2023, main care pediatricians requested consults with specialists in allergy and immunology, dermatology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, infectious illnesses, nephrology and pulmonology.
One of many research authors’ prime priorities was to boost consciousness concerning the service. Whereas e-consults had been first applied at UC Davis Well being in 2014, there was room for enchancment. To encourage better uptake, the research workforce initiated a number of efforts to coach and have interaction clinicians.
Step one was reaching out to the medical group inside UC Davis Well being. The workforce additionally labored with every specialty to develop its personal e-consult protocols, which had been then communicated to pediatric main care physicians. To place e-consults entrance and middle, the researchers adjusted the EHR’s referral choices to remind physicians they will choose a doctor-to-doctor session.
Boosting affected person entry
Along with the uncooked information assortment, the workforce interviewed a number of main care pediatricians, specialists and a referral coordinator to higher perceive how they skilled these interactions.
“We found that e-consults were a big win for everyone,” Shaikh mentioned. “For families, they reduced time away from work and school, as well as transportation to and from visits. Primary care physicians were able to get more timely advice, giving them more information to provide better care. Specialists could use e-consults to order diagnostic tests before seeing patients in person, making those visits more efficient.”
As a result of UC Davis Well being has a big and rural catchment space, e-consults could be significantly precious, mitigating the necessity for sufferers and their households to journey lengthy distances for appointments.
“We found that e-consults helped primary care pediatricians get actionable advice from pediatric specialists for their patients,” mentioned Shaikh. “They reduced the wait times, as well as the need for in-person visits. That improves quality and value by making health care delivery more timely and efficient.”
Extra data:
Ulfat Shaikh et al, Implementing Digital Consultations to Enhance Pediatric Specialty Entry, Medical Pediatrics (2025). DOI: 10.1177/00099228251342105
Quotation:
Can pediatric e-consults enhance entry to specialty care? (2025, June 6)
retrieved 6 June 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2025-06-pediatric-access-specialty.html
This doc is topic to copyright. Aside from any honest dealing for the aim of personal research or analysis, no
half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is supplied for data functions solely.
