Patient Safety Guidance for the Virtual Visit

Managing Risk in a New Care Setting

When the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, institutional and individual providers needed to initiate or accelerate their adoption of virtual care. That meant quickly pivoting from primarily office-based visits to create new care delivery solutions and dramatically expand existing virtual care programs.

Many teams with limited experience and training in the virtual delivery of care were required to adapt rapidly to new and unfamiliar technologies. Concurrently, institutions and individuals recognized that this sudden and unexpected expansion of virtual care potentially exposed patients to safety vulnerabilities.

The AMC PSO identified a need to address this unprecedented challenge and formed the Virtual Care Task Force, comprising providers from a variety of disciplines with interest and expertise in virtual care and patient safety (and a patient and family advisory council representative). The Patient Safety Guide for the Virtual Visit is the culmination of the Task Force’s initial phase of work.

Virtual Care Task Force

Statement

Recommendations for Patient Safety Guide for the Virtual Visit were developed under the auspices of the Academic Medical Center Patient Safety Organization (AMC PSO) Virtual Care Task Force. These consensus recommendations are for informational purposes only and should not be construed or relied upon as a standard of care. The AMC PSO recommends institutions review these guidelines and accept, modify, or consider alternatives based on their own resources and patient populations. Institutions should review and modify these recommendations as the field continues to evolve.