{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,28]],"date-time":"2026-02-28T04:25:34Z","timestamp":1772252734080,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,14]],"date-time":"2023-02-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1676332800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on emergency medical communication centres (EMCC). A live video facility was made available to second-line physicians in an EMCC with a first-line paramedic to receive emergency calls. The objective of this study was to measure the contribution of live video to remote medical triage. The single-centre retrospective study included all telephone assessments of patients with suspected COVID-19 symptoms from 01.04.2020 to 30.04.2021 in Geneva, Switzerland. The organisation of the EMCC and the characteristics of patients who called the two emergency lines (official emergency number and COVID-19 number) with suspected COVID-19 symptoms were described. A prospective web-based survey of physicians was conducted during the same period to measure the indications, limitations and impact of live video on their decisions. A total of 8957 patients were included, and 2157 (48.0%) of the 4493 patients assessed on the official emergency number had dyspnoea, 4045 (90.6%) of 4464 patients assessed on the COVID-19 number had flu-like symptoms and 1798 (20.1%) patients were reassessed remotely by a physician, including 405 (22.5%) with live video, successfully in 315 (77.8%) attempts. The web-based survey (107 forms) showed that physicians used live video to assess mainly the breathing (81.3%) and general condition (78.5%) of patients. They felt that their decision was modified in 75.7% (n = 81) of cases and caught 7 (7.7%) patients in a life-threatening emergency. Medical triage decisions for suspected COVID-19 patients are strongly influenced by the use of live video.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph20043307","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,14]],"date-time":"2023-02-14T02:16:01Z","timestamp":1676340961000},"page":"3307","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Contribution of Live Video to Physicians\u2019 Remote Assessment of Suspected COVID-19 Patients in an Emergency Medical Communication Centre: A Retrospective Study and Web-Based Survey"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5200-4199","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Robert","family":"Larribau","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Anaesthesiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, CH 1211 Geneva, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5741-4536","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Beth","family":"Healey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Anaesthesiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, CH 1211 Geneva, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Victor Nathan","family":"Chappuis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Anaesthesiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, CH 1211 Geneva, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dominique","family":"Boussard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Anaesthesiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, CH 1211 Geneva, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Florent","family":"Guiche","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Anaesthesiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, CH 1211 Geneva, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9277-0093","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tara","family":"Herren","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Anaesthesiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, CH 1211 Geneva, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0726-3201","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Birgit Andrea","family":"Gartner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Anaesthesiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, CH 1211 Geneva, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6989-6421","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Laurent","family":"Suppan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Emergency Medicine, Department of Anaesthesiology, Clinical Pharmacology, Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, Geneva University Hospital, Rue Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, CH 1211 Geneva, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1431","DOI":"10.1377\/hlthaff.2020.00902","article-title":"A Phone Call Away: New York\u2019s Hotline And Public Health In The Rapidly Changing COVID-19 Pandemic","volume":"39","author":"Kristal","year":"2020","journal-title":"Health Aff. 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