| Sumario: | Physical distancing requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic required changes to multiple clinical practices, including communication, handover, and meetings. The aim of this trial was to evaluate the use of virtual huddles as a replacement for nursing staff's start of shift handover or multi-disciplinary meetings. A cross-sectional survey was used to assess the perceived usefulness, usability, and applicability of the virtual huddles trial. A total of 47 nurses and allied health professionals answered the survey, of whom only five (10.6%) had a System Usability Score of 68 or above (indicating acceptability). Despite being confident in using virtual huddles, most nurses and allied health professionals did not believe virtual huddles helped them identify patients needing urgent attention or escalation of care (n = 21, 44.7%). Health professionals in this study did not feel that sufficient consideration was given to the education of different healthcare professionals related to their skills using technology, patient care requirements such as privacy and confidentiality, and practical needs required to support the virtual huddles' trial. Virtual huddles were not perceived as useful in this study, and they exacerbated feelings of separation and reduced team morale.
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