A short review on the comparison of consultation systems and tools in the emergency department practice: Tele-consultation

Emergency department (ED) consultation is an important part of acute patient care and one of the major determinants of ED length of stay (LOS). ED consultations between physicians who may not be in the same location frequently, require a tool to reach out one another and communicate. This paper reviews the historical change and development of consultation tools. The literature on ED consultation methods have been accumulating for the last two decades as the diversity of these methods has increased with technology. Most of the studies demonstrate that high tech systems are useful and safe to reach the consultant and share medical information flow. Moreover, t he future of the area offers new developments regarding consultation tools that are hard to imagine yet like augmented reality.