Abstract Objectives Virtual care use exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic, but comprehensive evaluations of inpatient virtual care are lacking. This process evaluation of virtual family-centred rounds (vFCR) aimed to determine if vFCR supports high-quality care with comparable effectiveness, usefulness, and acceptability to in-person family-centred rounds. Methods This mixed-methods evaluation was conducted in a freestanding academic tertiary care children's hospital from May to June 2021. Virtual observations were used to evaluate the effectiveness of vFCR compared to in-person rounds and timing benchmarks. In-person observations were used to collect vFCR technology usability data. Questionnaires were distributed postrounds to understand patient/family and medical team perceptions of vFCR effectiveness, satisfaction, safety, and technology usability. Results Adherence to the core components of family-centred rounds during vFCR was variable. vFCR timing was consistent with benchmarks despite regular delays. The majority (93%) of survey respondents were satisfied with vFCR, and 67% felt it was important to do FCR virtually during the pandemic for increased safety. Importantly, vFCR was perceived by 97% of medical team members as supporting shared decision-making with patients and families and 78% of patients/families felt like valued partners in their (child's) care. vFCR technology was perceived as easy or very easy to use by 95% of respondents. Conclusion Virtual family-centred rounds were found to be effective, safe and met with high levels of satisfaction by patients/families and medical team members. The technology was perceived to be easy to learn and use. Rounds efficiency and transition times were identified as opportunities for improvement.
Buba et al. (Sat,) studied this question.