Introduction
Healthcare forms a large and irreplaceable part of every person’s life, supporting their well-being and ensuring that their needs throughout the years are met. Medical professionals make it their job to examine and aid people for the sake of improving public health and making sure that society stays operational. Traditionally, healthcare services are provided in person, via a visit to a hospital or a home call. This allows a medical specialist to examine the patient’s condition in person and deliver the most accurate judgment. However, not all people are able to be present at a medical facility or get access to a doctor through a personal visit.
Elderly people with limited movement abilities or people living in remote areas often do not have the ability to participate in traditional models of healthcare. For the sake of appealing to such individuals better, telehealth technology has been gradually developed and implemented. Telehealth expands the notion of healthcare service provision to telephone and online spheres, allowing professionals to extend their expertise to a larger audience and improve the lives of some people.
This approach, however, has its own specific problems to solve, especially in regards to proper implementations. Healthcare provides and companies have developed a variety of ways to organize telemedicine, and the process requires considerable thought. In this paper, a general strategy of implementing a telecare strategy will be outlined, with the goal of providing guidelines for its use being discussed.
Existing Telehealth Technology Infrastructure
There are a variety of already existing strategies for implementing telecare approaches into the medical care process. In an effort to better understand the telehealth provision techniques, its examination can be useful. One of such systems is the CANDOR process, which aims to minimize medical errors and establish an effective system of communication between the health provider and their patient. The system was created as a response to a high correlation between malpractice and adverse health effects. To both improve the quality of care from healthcare organizations and help more people, this process prioritizes communication and interaction.
The CANDOR approach is said to be focused on approaching medical errors in a fair and empathetic manner encouraging kindness and understanding. Specifically, this framework is effective at resolving issues when a patient comes under harm and constructs an appropriate response. The aforementioned response consists of 5 major components: identification, activation, response, investigation, and resolution (Implementation Guide for the CANDOR Process). First, an instance of physical, emotional, or financial harm to a patient is identified, which then prompts a CANDOR response, which activates all the subsequent components.
The response component includes disclosure which engages communicators that work together with a patient to resolve a harmful event (Implementation Guide for the CANDOR Process). After the phase of communication and the initial response is established, the investigation process to gather all relevant information is started. Finally, after the effective implementation of the CANDOR process, healthcare organizations can work on a resolution (Implementation Guide for the CANDOR Process). The information gathered during the investigation and communication phases is used to effectively ensure patient safety and provide adequate compensation.
Generally, the process of using a CANDOR model takes up around 12 to 18 months for full implementation, with modules being gradually built upon (Implementation Guide for the CANDOR Process). To speak in more general terms, professionals separate the process of implementing telehealth into at least 3 parts: assessment and definition, development, and implementation (Step by Step Guide for a Telehealth Rollout 2020). The first step is used to recognize the main needs of a company and find an opportunity for using telehealth, with the second phase effectively defining the exact methods of operating a telecare process.
The development plan outlines exactly who will be responsible for performing tasks, allocating time and materials necessary to implement the program. Implementation finally puts all the building blocks together with methods of tracking progress and patient satisfaction (Step by Step Guide for a Telehealth Rollout 2020). Combining these three essential steps with the particular needs of an organization, a telehealth program can be effectively used by an organization.
Opportunities for Development
Telemedicine software and programs are designed with a particular goal in mind, and their application can assist both healthcare workers and patients in improving the standards of care enjoyed. With a variety of services provided by any healthcare organization, it is important to recognize potential areas of growth and development. For the sake of this particular problem, the telecare program will be focused on assisting pregnant people in need of a medical check-up.
Undoubtedly, for a safe and smooth process of pregnancy, a person must regularly visit a doctor that accesses their condition. However, that can be difficult to achieve, as mothers often face difficulty moving large distances and may experience additional troubles connected with their condition. To address the need for pregnant people to be accessed by a professional, a telehealth program may be implemented. It will allow patients to virtually meet with a doctor and arrange appointments in the comfort of their own home.
Implementation Plan
A need to assist pregnant women in accessing healthcare services has been identified, meaning that a healthcare organization can proceed forward with constructing a method of answering that need. Telecare in this sphere can provide great convenience to a valuable and vulnerable demographic, as well as improve patient satisfaction. The service will be used to arrange appointments with healthcare workers, store, submit and overview patient data and establish long-distance communication between doctors and their clients. In regards to development, the creation of an online platform monitored and managed by appropriate professionals will be needed.
Such a platform will offer direct contact with medical professionals and a way for each patient to register, submit their medical records, and be evaluated by a doctor. Web developers and technicians with the assistance of medical professionals can develop such a platform to adequately function as both a website and secure storage of patient data. Lastly, the implementation phase will see to the website’s completion and a way to monitor the patient and staff satisfaction.
The use of surveying and rating as a way to gauge people’s attitudes towards the service will be used. The quality of patient outcomes will be tracked through privately protected records of all operations that will be up for a regular review from qualified staff. The overall goal of this project is to provide a useful and contemporary service to a vulnerable demographic of people.
Staff Requirements and Responsibilities
In regards to implementing the strategy, the organization will need to prepare appropriate staff and divide responsibilities over managing the program’s operation. In regards to knowledge and requirements from the staff, mastery over working on a computer and managing long-distance communication is an obvious requirement, as doctors will need to access large amounts of data and communicate with their patients as well.
Medical professionals delegated to this job should also be familiar with accessing a pregnant woman’s condition and giving appropriate advice to clients. From the technical side, web administrators, developers and technicians need to ensure that the website operates smoothly, moves patient information over secure channels and securely stores it. The main approach is to let healthcare workers operate in tandem with web professionals to deliver and secure the best possible level of care on an online basis/