Schwarzwald-Baar Klinikum: Video Consultations Directly from the KIS

Doctors and Patients Benefit from Remote Consultations

Prof. Dr. Daniela Schultz-Lampel heads the Southwest Continence Centre at the Schwarzwald-Baar Klinikum. She is supported by her senior medical secretary Tanja Abt – and by CARY Medical, the integrated solution for video consultations. At the end of 2024, avodaq introduced the application, which is based on Cisco Webex and is connected to the existing KIS (HIS – hospital information system). Since then, video consultations have been successfully carried out at the Continence Centre. During the interview, the specialists explain how they and their patients benefit from the seamless use of the system.

What specifically do you discuss during the video consultations?

Schultz-Lampel: First and foremost, it is about planning and preparing for the actual treatment appointment at our clinic. Our patients have to send in preliminary findings, complete questionnaires and fill in medication, pain and drinking protocols. With this information, we can arrange an initial appointment via video consultation, during which we share and discuss the documents together. This approach is very different from me just looking at the papers and then making a decision.

How do you use the information from the video meeting?

Schultz-Lampel: We can plan specifically which treatments each patient needs. The clinic, in turn, knows what it needs to organise in advance. After all, the diseases are not only treated in our competence centre, but we also serve as a “distributor” in the Schwarzwald-Baar Klinikum. This includes surgeries in our main urology department, in gynaecology or in surgery. Patients can expect a well-planned stay and know what treatments to anticipate.

How does the video consultation differ from a phone call?

Schultz-Lampel:Patients can communicate their complaints to a person they can see face to face via video. E-mail and telephone alone are not enough – that is a major gain. It is also easier to develop trust in the doctor. But it also makes a huge difference to me if I can observe someone, especially with regard to a complex operation. For example, how does the interviewee present themselves, how do they react, what is their overall visual impression? Of course, there are always some drawbacks compared to face-to-face consultations, but video calls have one big advantage compared to phone calls: I can assess patients much better.

Ms Abt, as Chief Medical Secretary you are now also responsible for managing video conferences. How has your work changed?

Abt: We have been using Cisco Webex for years, so I am quite advanced in my job in terms of digitalisation. I record the patients’ data in our KIS ORBIS and scan preliminary findings so that Prof. Dr. Schultz-Lampel can access them during video consultations. I can add video appointments to the KIS at the touch of a button, without having to log in to Webex and enter all the data manually, which used to be quite time-consuming. By connecting CARY Medical to our KIS via the HL7 interface*, appointments can now be made with just a few mouse clicks. It’s a great relief for me because it’s simply much faster and less prone to errors.

How do people react to the video consultation service?

Abt: Most of them are absolutely open to it and they appreciate the fact that we offer video consultations. Parents in particular are delighted that they don’t have to take the afternoon off work to travel to us. We also send the interviewees instructions on which app to install and what they need to know beforehand. This works very well.

What is your opinion so far?

Schultz-Lampel:The video consultation is a win-win situation for both our patients and for us. It makes no sense to have someone drive 600 kilometres there and back for the simple planning of a treatment or for a brief check-up after the treatment. This can be done with the video consultation – as a kind of hybrid treatment, sometimes via video, sometimes in person. It is also a great advantage for us because we can organise video appointments outside of normal office hours. The bottom line is that it doesn’t mean less work, but it does increase efficiency and makes planning and handling easier. If we can see in the first video consultation how a patient fits into the schedule and how long their treatment will take, we can work through our waiting list more efficient.

Prof. Schultz-Lampel, Ms Abt thank you for the interview. We look forward to further cooperation and the joint expansion of the use of CARY Medical!