ArticleFrontiers in health services2026
The innovation of the clinical assistant role in a virtual emergency department: building digital health capability while supporting equitable access.
Article in Frontiers in health services, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
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Abstract
The rapid expansion of virtual care has exposed gaps in workforce design, particularly at the intersection of digital literacy, access, and clinical efficiency. The Clinical Assistant (CA) role is an innovative response to these challenges within the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department (VVED), a statewide telehealth service providing urgent medical care via video consultation. This perspective shares the development, implementation and impact of the CA role, drawing on service data and existing literature. CAs provide real-time technical and navigational support to patients, mitigate digital access barriers, and redistribute administrative tasks away from clinicians. Early service data and staff perceptions suggest improvements in workflow efficiency, clinician experience and patient access, particularly among digitally vulnerable populations. In parallel, the role offers unique exposure for medical and allied health students, supporting the development of digital health capabilities and systems-based understanding. The CA model highlights the importance of integrating socio-technical support roles into virtual care systems and provides insights for future workforce redesign in digitally enabled healthcare.
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