Telehealth clinical services

To expand and improve the range of health services available to citizens, several services have been implemented. Some services are deployed at the provincial level, others at the local level by institutions, depending on the needs of the population being served.

All telehealth services are provided to patients by their healthcare professional depending on their situation. You cannot make a telehealth appointment on this page. If you are interested in this service, talk to your healthcare professional.

Detailed information for potential or current users of the various services is also available on the Portal Réseau québécois de la télésanté .

• Patients can visit the page Telehealth Clinical Services – Patient .
• Healthcare professionals can visit the page Services cliniques en télésanté – Professionnel  (in French only).

These province-wide services are deployed in one or more territories in the province.

Teleconsultation, also called a virtual meeting or virtual consultation, is an increasingly widespread telehealth practice. It allows you to consult a health professional at home, with a computer or mobile device and a video call app (Microsoft Teams in the Quebec health network). Teleconsultation avoids the inconvenience of travel, facilitates the participation of an informal caregiver and improves access to some health services.

Are you a patient who would like to know more about this intervention modality? Have you been invited to participate in a teleconsultation by your health professional and would like to know the steps to follow to prepare for it? Go to the Participate in a teleconsultation as a patient  page.

Virtual homecare makes use of digital tools to allow services to be provided to patients in their residences.

By providing virtual homecare, healthcare professionals can observe changes in the patient's condition before it deteriorates. This reduces emergency room visits and hospital stays.

This approach guides patients toward self-management of their health and equips them to react if they develop symptoms. For patients, this results in greater autonomy, a feeling of connection and trust with the healthcare team and a commitment to take charge of their health and quality of life.

Are you a potential user of this service? See the page Telehomecare Monitoring Platform - Patient .

For healthcare professionals, see the page Plateforme de suivi virtuel en milieux de vie - Professionnel  (in French only).

Telethrombolysis is a telehealth activity for a patient who is having a stroke. A stroke is a critical health condition that requires urgent attention and access to specialized expertise.

More specifically, telethrombolysis provides a patient experiencing an acute ischemic stroke with timely access to diagnosis and quality care. They can access this service in any emergency room in the province without having to travel to a specialized hospital centre.

This service allows medical staff in the emergency room where the patient is admitted to connect with a neurology specialist at a specialized centre. The neurologist assesses the patient remotely, assists emergency room medical staff and suggests the best treatment option.

For healthcare professionals who are current or potential users of this service, visit the page Téléthrombolyse  (in French only).

These telehealth services come in a variety of forms and allow remote professionals specializing in complex wound care (usually nurses) to provide assistance and share their expertise with colleagues or to intervene directly with patients. The service is available for the treatment of a complex or chronic wound or ulcer.

For healthcare professionals who are current or potential users of this service, visit the Services de soins de plaies  page (in French only).

This service is intended for victims of traumatic hand amputation who have undergone emergency reimplantation or revascularization surgery at the CEVARMU of the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM). CEVARMU is the Centre of Expertise for Victims of Traumatic Amputation Requiring Emergency Reimplantation or Microsurgical Revascularization. It is the designated provincial centre for this type of procedure.

This service allows patients who have undergone this highly specialized surgery to return to their region quickly for rehabilitation services. The healthcare team at the rehabilitation service where the patient is receiving follow-up benefits from the expertise of specialists at the CHUM through audiovisual exchanges. This allows professionals in the regions to receive assistance in treating these complex cases.

For rehabilitation professionals who are current or potential users of this service, see the page Téléassistance en réadaptation post-réimplantation de la main  (in French only).

The virtual hearing service allows patients involved in legal proceedings related to their mental health to obtain their hearing or appearance in court in a timely manner. This service is offered in partnership with the Ministère de la Justice.

Clinical, legal and technology teams at the health and social services institution work together to implement it. The judge, the establishment's legal counsel, the defence lawyer, the user, the healthcare team (where necessary) and all those involved can be connected.

Through remote court hearings and appearances, the different parties can participate in hearings when limitations prevent the user from travelling to the courthouse because of a medical condition. The service is intended to promote respect for the rights and remedies of users hospitalized in the health and social services network while minimizing the impact on their mental health.

This service allows people with cancer to be provided with remote follow-up through virtual meetings with an Oncology Pivot Nurse (OPN).

These virtual meetings allow the OPN to carry out a more comprehensive assessment of the patient's signs and symptoms than does a telephone meeting, while allowing the patient to remain in their home. Virtual meetings also bring together other oncology professionals and informal caregivers.

Are you a potential user of this service? See the page Virtual meeting with the oncology nurse .

For healthcare professionals, see the page Rencontre virtuelle pour IPO  (in French only).

Various virtual care modalities are made available to residents and care teams in long-term care environments: virtual consultations and exchanges, loan of tablets to residents, COVID-19 Symptom Surveillance , Contact Télésanté  (in French only), etc.

The article Telehealth for the elderly  describes how the COVID-19 pandemic context was conducive to the emergence of various initiatives to facilitate the delivery of remote care and services in long-term care.

Healthcare professionals working in long-term care environments can visit the page Telehealth in long-term care  (in French only).

Teledermatology substantially improves patients’ access to dermatology consultations. Virtual consultations with a dermatologist take place within 14 days at most. Patients do not need to travel anywhere because the specialist performs the consultation using images and the clinical information forwarded by the requesting family physician. The diagnosis and treatment plan are then returned to the treating physician who takes charge of applying the treatment and monitoring the patient.

The activities in this service are conducted through the Virtual Care Platform (VCP), a secure Web platform aimed at managing complete virtual care pathways.

 For more information, read the following articles:

• Dermatology in the Digital Age  (February 24, 2022)
• Provincial Teledermatology Deployment: it’s a start!  (June 30, 2022)

Patients interested in this service should talk to their treating physician. The physician will then determine whether it is appropriate and possible to request a teledermatology consultation.

Physicians and other healthcare professionals interested in this service can find useful information on the pages Teledermatology  (in French only) and Virtual Care Platform (VCP)  (in French only).