Key Steps Of Telemedicine Implementation

By Betty Smith


Hospitals and health facilities are on the verge of implementing telemedicine programs. The program comprises of virtual health coaches, telemedicine health centers and rooms, cloud-based physicians, and highly trained web consultants. With proper planning, right people, modern technology, and effective analysis of workflow, telemedicine implementation becomes an easy task. Both telemedicine and telehealth have ability to increase access to healthcare services, improve their quality, and decrease their cost. Additionally, hospitals can minimize administrative expenses and still manage to maintain an operational excellence.

Most hospitals will decrease their operational cost, but maintain operational excellence. Once the administrative team is convinced that the telemedicine program will be valuable to the hospital, the odds of the project succeeding are very high. Remember, not all stakeholders will support implementation of the project. Therefore, you will have the duty to convince them with well-researched findings and facts. With the growth in technology, both the medical practitioners and patients are using the technological tools.

The telemedicine program will receive positive response and will be embrace by patients since most of them are communicating in a cloud-based style. You must carry out a rigorous market research and identify the potential the market has to offer. Once you have identified the community needs, you should evaluate the healthcare facility and find out if it has the right resource to offer the service that is on demand. Encourage the executive team to participate in matters that affect the community.

Once you have identified the potential of the market, you must focus on assessing the capabilities of healthcare facilities. In case the service that is demanded by the community surpasses the abilities of hospital, you should find an alternative need to address. In case you intend to do pediatric neurology, you must ensure you have the right equipment, infrastructure, and highly trained pediatric neurologist. Additionally, they must show interest of providing telemedicine services. Since identification of starting point may appear to be a hard nut to crack, organize a committee of stakeholders to oversee the assessment and identification of starting points.

Come up with goals that are clear, precise, and achievable. Involve everyone in the goal making process and ensure the goals of project align with those of hospital. Mobilize the hospital leaders to support implementation of telemedicine program. However, they must see how the program will benefit the hospital.

Allocate enough time for each stage and adhere to the timeline effectively. You should have a clear plan for dealing with emergencies and challenges. Factors that affect proper implementation include the size of healthcare and program goals.

Make sure you have a strong administrative support since you will have the guarantee to access the required resources for implementation. Encourage both the patient and the physician to embrace the technology. Additionally, the administrative team can assist you in dealing with tight timeline.

Telemedicine is advantageous for both patients and physicians. Patients are able to get professional help without necessarily travelling. On the other hand, physicians are able to operate on a flexible schedule. They can handle large number of patients within a short period.




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