Researchers at the University of Warwick are collaborating with Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service (EMRTS) Wales and Adult Critical Care Transfer Service (ACCTS) Wales on a study exploring how immersive technologies could improve life-saving decision making in remote care and inter-hospital patient transfers.
For the first time globally in out-of-hospital emergency medicine research, the team will compare three approaches to remote specialist support: traditional phone calls, video consultations on a tablet receiving a 360-degree camera feed, and full immersion with a virtual reality (VR) headset.
Currently, professionals rely mainly on phone calls in requesting and receiving support during pre- and inter‑hospital care of critically ill patients. This limits what is possible in remote specialist support.
The 999 REACH (Remote Access for Enhanced, Adaptive, Collaborative Healthcare) project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), aims to develop evidence-based guidance to support future adoption of video technologies in remote healthcare.
Adopting new technologies can make better use of scarce specialist resources, strengthen remote clinical support, and improve access to specialist care across regions.
Professor Jo Angouri, University of Warwick, said: "Our project brings together expertise from health sciences and sociolinguistics to understand how healthcare professionals interact and make decisions when using different technologies in remote care.
"Video technologies offer entirely new ways of collaborating when requesting and delivering specialist care. By analysing interactions between professionals working across different locations, we can model how emerging technologies shape teamwork and decision-making in the largely unexplored context of inter-hospital patient transfers."
The research will examine how each technology shapes interactions, the decision-making trajectory, and develop training and policy frameworks to support remote decision making in video‑based telemedicine.
The team's unique interdisciplinary composition and track record provides the conditions for an innovative and holistic approach while also translating findings to interventions from the start of the project.
Dr David Rawlinson, EMRTS & Wales Air Ambulance, said: "Video technologies are increasingly part of everyday life, and already starting to be adopted in clinical care without a firm evidence base. People tend to assume advanced technologies such as full immersion can only improve things, but we don't know that this is the case. Building on the success of our interdisciplinary collaboration and combining frontline clinical expertise with world-leading research, this project will generate the evidence needed to guide the safe, effective and sustainable adoption of these technologies in our setting."
Meryl Jenkins, Service Manager Adult Critical Care Transfer Service (ACCTS) Wales, said: "The Adult Critical Care Transfer Service plays a vital role in ensuring critically ill patients can access the specialist intensive care they need, regardless of where they are in Wales.
"We are delighted to be a core partner in the REACH project. The findings will help shape future service development, staff training and best practice, ultimately benefiting both our workforce and the patients we care for."
David Leadley, PVC Research at the University of Warwick, added: "I am very excited to see Warwick academics playing a leading role in the ESRC funded 999 REACH project. As demand for healthcare continues to grow, technology-enabled solutions will play an increasingly important role. The project has the potential to shape future clinical practice and improve access to high-quality specialist services for patients across the UK, and beyond. It exemplifies Warwick's commitment to deliver real-world impact through interdisciplinary research and innovation - in this case, helping to address complex healthcare challenges."
