The 2024 MacHSR Future Leaders Fellowship program has selected Kellie Le, early supported discharge (ESD) coordinator for vascular surgery and senior podiatrist at Northern Health, as one of ten clinicians across Victoria to participate in the program.
The fellowship program is open to doctors, nurses and allied health professionals who are keen to use health services research to explore an evidence-based solution to a practical healthcare problem relevant to their health service.
Kellie was selected for the program for her project: ’An Evaluation of the Victorian Virtual Specialist Consults (VVSC) at Northern Health.’
The Victorian Virtual Specialist Consults service is an evolution of the Medical Community Virtual Consult model, launched at Northern Health in early 2023.
This service provides virtual consultations to patients with substantial barriers to specialist access statewide and supports general practitioners and other healthcare professionals with immediate advice for managing complex patients within the community.
The service aims to reduce hospital outpatient demand and prevent hospital admissions through early care optimisation.
Ms Le said “I had a rollercoaster of emotions when I received the news I was selected”.
“It is such a great opportunity and I am very grateful to have been successful with my application for the fellowship, along with the support that I received from the VVSC team.
“I am hoping that once I have grasped the skills to evaluate a service, I can apply them to the current service program that I am working on or assist others within the health service.
“Being a clinician, we are often pulled in lots of different directions, and having dedicated time to complete research is very compelling to me. Learning how to robustly evaluate VVSC will give me the background knowledge and empower me with the skills to eventually evaluate my own service under ESD Vascular.”
The ESD Vascular program aims to reduce hospital stays for eligible vascular patients by providing virtual monitoring and support at home while they await elective procedures, ensuring safety and timely escalation to a hospital if their condition worsens.
Director of VVSC Dr Joanna Lawrence said, “Robust evaluation is absolutely critical to understand the impact any new service has on patient experience and outcomes”.
“Kellie’s research, supported by experts in health services research, will hopefully showcase the value VVSC is adding to the healthcare system and help guide future development,“ Dr Lawrence said.
