1-Virtual Care Team Toolkit.docx

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an urgent need to provide and expand virtual care to continue uninterrupted health care service delivery to enhance access, support patients and families, and prevent spread of COVID-19. This resulted in a rapid increase in the delivery of virtual care in health centers and growth of virtual care teams and hybrid models where some team members are virtual – either stationary or mobile – while others are onsite. This guide provides helpful guidance, checklists, resources and best practices to optimize and support virtual and hybrid care teams. While challenging at times to separate the two, there are two sections in the toolkit, both of which are important yet separate components. Section 1 – Teaming as a Virtual Care Team covers how the virtual care team effectively communicates and functions as a team when not in person or all in the same place. Section 2 – Optimizing Team-Based Care When Not in Person covers how the team delivers health care services and support to patients or team member(s) when not onsite.

This is a starting place; the vision for the guidance document is that it will be improved and expanded as virtual care teams learn how best to coordinate and be effective and grow their capabilities to elevate the concept of team-based care in a post-COVID world where telehealth and virtual services will be the norm.