vCreate Health News
Leveraging Secure Video Technology to Enhance Diagnostic Accuracy in Adult Neurology
13 March 2024
Despite advancements in diagnostic technologies, adult neurology still faces significant challenges in obtaining accurate diagnoses. The complexity and heterogeneity of neurological disorders make diagnosis and treatment difficult. Many clinicians heavily rely on patient/caregiver descriptions of an event or witnessing one themselves, both of which are challenging to obtain during scheduled appointments due to the atypical and intermittent nature of neurological symptoms.
Reliance on indirect evidence can result in misdiagnosis rates of up to 50%, leading to delayed care, prolonged suffering, and unnecessary investigations and treatments before arriving at an accurate diagnosis.
Due to these limitations, and with many adult patients regularly presenting with multiple different seizure types and events, video often emerges as the most reliable means to achieve a holistic view of the symptoms and reach an informed diagnosis.
vCreate’s clinical video service is being utilised by adult neurology teams across the UK to support rapid, precision diagnostics and reduce rates of misdiagnosis.
When reviewing patient referrals, clinicians can invite patients and caregivers to upload smartphone-recorded videos of the patients' signs or symptoms to vCreate’s secure cloud-based system. Patients/caregivers also provide additional context by answering a bespoke questionnaire at the time of upload.
The videos and data are remotely assessed alongside the referral information, giving clinical teams a more detailed and holistic view of the patient’s problem.
By harnessing the universal presence of smartphones, vCreate provides clinicians with access to a wealth of visual information, offering insights into the nature and progression of the patients’ condition. Patient videos can capture crucial details such as the duration of each event, associated symptoms, and any triggering factors, all of which can significantly aid in the diagnostic process.
Clinicians can review patient videos at their convenience, pausing and replaying the video to examine specific areas of concern and directly contact caregivers using the message feature to request additional videos. This enhanced access enables clinicians to identify subtle abnormalities or patterns of movement that may have been missed during an in-person appointment.
A 2022 Healthcare Improvement Scotland report on the impacts of vCreate reported that 95% of adult neurologists found the technology useful in making a diagnosis and 73% felt it allowed for a shorter time to diagnosis.
One Consultant Neurologist interviewed for the report shared “A patient with complex disabilities, chronic pain, a functional neurological disorder, mobility problems and a history of seizures, began experiencing seizures again. I spoke to a witness, and the witness history didn't make it clear whether we were dealing with epilepsy or functional seizures as part of FND. When we got the videos from vCreate, we could see very typical features of functional seizures. It was incredibly helpful to have the videos, along with evidence from the video telemetry, to manage that patient.”
vCreate provides clinicians with the ability to remotely share patient videos and associated data with healthcare professionals both within and outside of their organisation for specialist review and second opinions. By allowing multiple clinicians to review and contribute to the diagnostic process, the likelihood of overlooking critical information or misinterpreting symptoms is greatly reduced.
Dr Eleonora Saturno, Consultant Neurologist in NHS Fife, shared “vCreate has enhanced the way we diagnose and monitor patients – improving accuracy, collaboration and communication.
vCreate allows patients to communicate with our team in real-time, so we can provide reassurance of non-epileptic events and put their minds at ease a lot faster than traditional methods.”
For patients/caregivers who don’t speak English as their first language, they can translate the service and all messages to and from the clinical team into their language of choice. This ensures that all symptoms and events are communicated effectively with the clinical team and accurately diagnosed.
To learn how vCreate can benefit your clinical team and patients, email us to request a demo.
Collaborative Care: The Impact of vCreate’s Neonatal Therapy and Follow-up Feature
11 March 2024
The neonatal journey doesn't always end at discharge from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). For many families, it is a continuous process, filled with milestones, challenges, and ongoing monitoring from clinicians, parents, and caregivers.
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Glasgow’s Paediatric SLT team introduces secure asynchronous video service to enhance family focused care
05 March 2024
In the UK, around 1.4 million children and young people have speech, language, and communication differences, often requiring support from Paediatric Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) services. These services involve closely observing children's communication skills and interactions with their families, which can be facilitated through video samples.
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Asynchronous video transforms neonatal follow-up care for NHS Scotland
05 March 2024
Across Scotland, over 6,000 babies are treated in neonatal units (NNUs) every year with many requiring continued, remote care due to ongoing medical issues or to screen for early signs of adverse developmental outcomes.
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Overcoming Language Barriers in Healthcare
03 March 2024
Effective communication within the healthcare sector is essential. In the UK, where 1 in 10 people don’t speak English as their primary language, the NHS faces a growing challenge to meet the communication needs of an increasingly diverse population.
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Secure asynchronous video service transforms epilepsy diagnosis and management pathways in NHS multi-centre pilot
29 February 2024
Making an epilepsy diagnosis can be extremely challenging. Evaluating neurological conditions which produce intermittent and unpredictable symptoms is reliant on a detailed oral history of the possible seizure from the patient and a witness.
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Harnessing Innovative Video Technology to Enhance Autism Assessments
28 February 2024
In recent years, the waiting lists to receive an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis have risen significantly. ASD, is a developmental disability that affects people in different ways, with varying symptoms and abilities.
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Glasgow’s General Paediatrics department implement secure clinical video service to streamline the triage process and reduce waiting lists
13 February 2024
The challenge many General Paediatric services face is optimising and expediting patient pathways to improve service flow. Patients are referred to General Paediatrics by Primary Care and Emergency Departments and it can be difficult to ascertain the most appropriate patient pathway from written referrals alone.
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Supporting NHS Digital Health Goals with Innovative Tech
06 December 2023
In recent years, the NHS has taken big steps towards digital transformation and continues to make progress through its 2022 Digital Health and Social Care Plan.
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Dave’s epilepsy journey – Tackling seizures, stigma and surgery
30 November 2023
After experiencing auras and focal seizures since age 19, Dave was diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy at 22 following his first generalised seizure.
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This National Epilepsy Awareness Month we spoke to UK Infantile Spasms Trust (UKIST)
15 November 2023
This National Epilepsy Awareness Month we heard from UK Infantile Spasms Trust (UKIST); a charity founded in 2017 by a group of parents whose children were diagnosed with infantile spasms.
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Innovative technology tackling waiting lists for epilepsy patients
25 October 2023
Currently, around 600,000 people are living with epilepsy in the UK, equating to roughly 1 in every 100 people. For these individuals, timely access to specialised care is essential as any delays to diagnosis or treatment can lead to read more »
How to help someone that’s having a seizure
20 September 2023
Knowing what to do when someone has a seizure can help you feel prepared and less likely to panic when you see one. In this blog, find out what you can do if you see someone having a seizure.
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Archer's and Amanda's story - Purple Day
27 March 2023
When we saw Archer’s family on BBC Breakfast, it was April 2021 and Archer had recently been diagnosed with a form of epilepsy. Concerned by Archer’s unexplained movements, the family had been struggling for months to achieve a diagnosis. On one of their A&E visits, Archer’s parents were introduced to the vCreate Neuro trial where they were able to securely share videos of the suspected seizures with their clinical team.
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