{"id":482,"date":"2020-10-30T00:20:25","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T00:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=482"},"modified":"2023-09-27T13:58:45","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T13:58:45","slug":"telehealth","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/telehealth\/","title":{"rendered":"Heart Health Innovation: Telehealth Transforms Cardiac Care During COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>During the past 20 years, the heart valve industry has rapidly transformed with new therapies and diagnostic technologies. We have seen innovations like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/tavr-procedure.php\/\">TAVR<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/sutureless-heart-valve-replacement\">sutureless valves<\/a> go mainstream.\u00a0 We have witnessed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/mitraclip\/\">MitraClip<\/a> restore cardiac function for patients on heart transplant lists.<\/p>\n<p>Then, COVID-19. Fear. Shut-downs. Frustration. Confusion.<\/p>\n<p>As the world stopped to address the pandemic, the patients and caregivers in our community quickly realized that the insidious and progressive nature of heart valve disease would not wait for a COVID-19 vaccine. To help manage valvular disorders, the utility of Telehealth applications skyrocketed to minimize the risk of COVID-19 infections during valvular treatment cycles.\u00a0 Now, many months into the pandemic, Telehealth has become a key innovation for patients, their families and their care providers &#8211; doctor, nurses, physician assistants.<\/p>\n<p>To learn about the impact of Telehealth on patient care, I recently met with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Vaughn-Starnes-Los+Angeles-California.php\">Dr. Vaughn Starnes<\/a>, the Surgeon-in-Chief, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Craig-Baker-Los+Angeles-California.php\">Dr. Craig Baker,<\/a> the Chief of Cardiac Surgery, at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/hospital\/usc-heart-valve-clinic-starnes\">Keck School of Medicine at USC<\/a> in Los Angeles, California.\u00a0 As you may know, Dr. Starnes and Dr. Baker have successfully treated over 100 patients from our community.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9UIkkaN7y1I\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Key Learnings About Telehealth for Heart Surgery Patients<\/h2>\n<p>Dr. Starnes and Dr. Baker shared a lot of innovative points during this interview.\u00a0 Here are a few highlights I jotted down:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Drs. Starnes and Baker have dedicated a significant part of their practice and their careers to heart valve therapy given the rising prevalence of heart valve disease within our aging population.<\/li>\n<li>COVID-19 caused several shifts in the delivery of medicine. USC has implemented several new processes to ensure patient safety during COVID-19.\u00a0 Enhanced safety protocols at USC include social distancing (configuration shifts in clinics), screening protocols (temperature checks, questioning upon hospital entrance), coronavirus testing for all employees, sanitation protocols (sterilization), air filtration system reevaluation, and patient segmentation.\u00a0 At USC, there has yet to be one cardiac surgery patient who has been infected with COVID-19, according to Dr. Baker.<\/li>\n<li>During the pandemic, Dr. Starnes urges patients with cardiac conditions to monitor and get regular check-ups for their disease.\u00a0 If an intervention is required during COVID-19, Dr. Starnes suggests that patients should not wait to get treatment.\u00a0 If patients delay heart valve therapy, they are at risk for strokes, aortic dissections and heart attacks.<\/li>\n<li>Telehealth applications have helped Dr. Baker and Dr. Starnes treat patients safely during COVID-19.\u00a0 In addition, Telehealth is providing patients a more convenient way to get high-quality opinions and care without the challenges of long-distance travel, traffic and clinic time.<\/li>\n<li>COVID-19 challenged the USC team to think of new ways to make the patient experience faster and easier.\u00a0 Dr. Baker also believes that Telehealth is unexpectedly reducing anxiety for cardiac surgery patients as they are connecting with clinicians from the comfort of their own homes with other members of their family present.<\/li>\n<li>At the peak of COVID-19 infections, Dr. Baker saw between 60%-70% of his patients via Telehealth.\u00a0 More recently, Dr. Baker is seeing about 30%-40% of his patients using Telehealth platforms.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Starnes believes that Telehealth is not a compromise during COVID-19. Instead, Dr. Starnes sees Telehealth as a new way for physicians to interact with more patients.\u00a0 However, Dr. Starnes believes there are new considerations that physicians will have to adjust to specific to the social interactions within the patient\/doctor relationship that are not available via a screen.<\/li>\n<li>Telehealth is showing added value beyond the pre-operative work-up leading to a surgical event.\u00a0 Now, Telehealth is providing several opportunities for patients and medical teams after a heart valve procedure.\u00a0 For example, wound healing can be examined in a remote live setting.<\/li>\n<li>Specific to the future of Telehealth, Dr. Starnes believes the future is very bright.\u00a0 For example, USC has developed an innovative and extensive Telehealth protocol for remote monitoring of potential lung transplant rejection in cardiac patients.<\/li>\n<li>One potential utility of Telehealth for heart surgery patients is cardiac rehabilitation, according to Dr. Baker.\u00a0 Post-operatively, Telehealth could provide patients a unique remote platform to benefit directly from cardiac rehab classes without on-site attendance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Many Thanks Dr. Starnes, Dr. Baker &amp; USC!!!<\/h2>\n<p>On behalf of our patient community, I would like to thank <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Vaughn-Starnes-Los+Angeles-California.php\">Dr. Starnes<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Craig-Baker-Los+Angeles-California.php\">Dr. Baker<\/a> for helping our community learn how Telehealth is helping heart valve patients at USC.\u00a0 I would also like to thank the entire USC team for the incredible care they have provided to the patients from our community!<\/p>\n<p>Related Articles:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/covid-19-vaccine\/\">Are COVID Vaccines Safe After Heart Valve Surgery?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/mitral-dr-vaughn-starnes\/\">Surgeon Q&amp;A: Mitral Valve Surgery with Dr. Vaughn Starnes<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2020\/08\/11\/telehealth-reform-congress-letter\/\">Physicians Unite for Telehealth Reform During COVID-19<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/coronavirus-covid-19.php\">COVID-19 &amp; Heart Valve Disease: 20 Facts to Know<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep on tickin!<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n<p>P.S. For the hearing impaired members of our community, I have provided a written transcript this video below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"cms.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"class_list":["post-482","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-adams-updates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3830,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/482\/revisions\/3830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}