Improving the Efficiency and Capacity of Virtual Genetics Clinics using Human Factors Design Methods

The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it significant challenges for healthcare as well as some opportunities. The Prenatal Genetics Clinic at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa moved to virtual care at the outset of the pandemic. Herein, we conducted a quality improvement study focused on developing a better understanding of factors influencing the efficiency of prenatal Genetics Counsellors to support virtual care and related patient activities, with the intent of developing strategies to improve workflow. Within the context of the pandemic, we used remote and field methods of quantitative and qualitative inquiry to develop a better understanding of clinical workflows after the implementation of virtual care. This included diary studies to track time on task and naturalistic observation sessions at the Clinic. The strategies suggested fall within real-world project constraints, which included the inability to increase the number of GCs and inability to renovate the current clinic space.