Problem
The healthcare sector provides essential services to the public, ensuring disease prevention, control, and treatment. The sector faced several problems before COVID-19, and the pandemic exacerbated the issues by requiring significant changes. Part of the changes included the emergence of remote working among a significant section of employees (Gilmartin et al., 2020).
The massive change in organizational processes presents several challenges that should be addressed to facilitate continuous. The guidelines for remote working were not fully developed before the pandemic since it was an emerging trend that most companies had not adopted. However, healthcare organizations have to adapt to the changes to facilitate continued care provision and prevent adverse outcomes (Gilmartin et al., 2020).
The emerging challenges include legal issues, which are frequent in care provision. Legal issues include maintaining the security of medical records, which all healthcare professionals are mandated to secure by following standard procedures. Professionals must adhere to industry standards in their practice since some healthcare professionals provide care remotely. It entails consideration of factors like patient-centered care, patient safety, and quality care. Since remote care is dependent on the internet, cybersecurity has emerged as an issue in the new trend.
Resolution of the issues identified above includes the adoption of policies, guidelines, and practices that ensure safety is maintained during remote care provision. Healthcare organizations are mandated to develop and implement policies and regulations that will guide care provision by professionals working remotely. The policies and guidelines should address all the issues that have been identified, including establishing frameworks that ensure the security of medical records and proper security.
Organizations should take the lead in securing their practitioners’ Wi-Fi networks to provide care and implement measures that ensure care providers adhere to established standards and policies. The goal of this memo is to raise awareness about the issues that have been identified above and to motivate relevant stakeholders to take relevant actions to address these issues.
Summary of the Problem
Healthcare practitioners have a professional and ethical obligation to ensure their practice achieves the best patient outcomes. The practice is based on the utilitarian approach, whereby the outcomes or consequences measure an action. Medical records entail patients’ personal information, which is protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)(Cohen & Mello, 208). The law requires that professionals and organizations prevent the disclosure of medical records from unauthorized access. Remote working challenges the existing frameworks that protect patient records, hence requiring the adoption of new measures to address them.
Discussion
Remote work is an existing factor in healthcare, and measures should be taken to ensure it meets the established standards and policies guiding the sector. Issues that emerge include the safety of patient information and maintaining quality care. It is an ethical IT issue that should be addressed by adopting relevant interventions that enhance the security of patient information. Interventions through policies, guidelines, and practices will be most effective when properly implemented.
Closing Statement
The issues identified above are pertinent to the continued provision of safety and quality care. The healthcare sector is dedicated to ensuring that patients receive the best care at all levels of care. The new approach to care provision should be subjected to the same procedures as other processes to maintain the standard of care. The hope is that there will soon be similar standards in all forms of care.
References
Cohen, I. G., & Mello, M. M. (2018). HIPAA and protecting health information in the 21st Century. JAMA, 320(3), 231. Web.
Gilmartin, H. M., Connelly, B., Hebbe, A., Battaglia, C., & Kwan, B. M. (2020). Assessing the impact of remote work during COVID-19 on clinical and translational scientists and staff in Colorado. Journal of clinical and translational science, 5(1), e71. Web.