Neurosurgical Transition e-Program (Neuro-STEP): Pilot evaluation of an e-Health program to improve the transition of neurosurgical patients from remote locations to specialist neurosurgical care, across life's trajectory from pediatric to adult, and through dynamic changes in acute or chronic health states.

Currently, long wait-times for patients to see a specialist are a big problem. Often, the patient does not know much about the latest status of their referral, causing anxiety. For neurosurgery patients any delay in seeing a specialist can result in worse outcomes. In addition, having a neurosurgical problem in general can be quite worrisome for many. Some people travel from long distances to see a neurosurgeon. Others are neurosurgery patients who have been used to the pediatric setting and now have to transition to an adult hospital. Finally, after having had a neurosurgical operation, an individual could either be going home, a local hospital, or to rehabilitation. In either scenario, it is helpful to have real-time information customized to the specific person, diagnosis, and state of health. As technology improves, it is important to use it safely and effectively to handle many of these challenges. The Neurosurgery Division at the Toronto Western Hospital has teamed up with Akinox, an e-Health company specializing in technology for health, along with patients to develop an internet-based application to fix this problem. Our application will make sure that all referrals are standardized. This means that people who do not need to see a neurosurgeon don't make an extra trip and those who do, can have an effective visit. It will also show the user the latest status of their referral. Depending on the diagnosis and stage of care, each user (patient) will receive updates on upcoming appointments and get directed to appropriate resources to help them better understand their diagnosis. This will better prepare patients for taking charge of their own care. We plan to evaluate how effective our application is by collecting data on patient satisfaction, wait-times, referring physician satisfaction, and costs. We hope that this application will help improve our challenges so that one day it can be made available to all healthcare providers and patients across Canada.