Telehealth is a healthcare service offered by practitioners and facilities via electronic means of information sharing. There can be cases where a healthcare facility is located far from a patient, but an electronic transfer of patient information allows practitioners to offer care over long-distance for follow-up contact, advice, education, reminders, care, monitoring, and remote admissions (Rutledge & Gustin, 2021). Despite lacking physical contact with a patient or care provider, telehealth enhances and promotes easy access to health services among people. It serves as a faster way of handling health issues to help prevent worse cases from occurring. However, telehealth is mainly for passing information from a patient to a healthcare practitioner or vice versa.
Integrating Telehealth in Specific Organization
Among care service providers assigned to monitor and track the record of patients, they can integrate the use of telehealth in making follow-ups and engaging patients to check on their condition. The virtual visit can be done via phone call or video chat, depending on the preference of the patient. Apart from a virtual visit, a healthcare facility can engage with patients remotely to provide check-ups while the patients recover from home. In case the checkup through a telehealth program discovers a complication or urgent situation that demands physical attention, a practitioner can be assigned to visit the patient immediately or called to visit a facility (Rutledge et al., 2021). Another area in that telehealth can be integrated is in robotic technology for carrying out surgery activities. A robot can be directed by a doctor located in a different location to perform a complete surgery on a patient hence saving time, life, and money.
Manager’s Roles in Telehealth
Selection
Healthcare managers have the task of selecting tools and machines for use in providing care to patients. Apart from selecting equipment and tools, managers can select care practitioners to take charge of a situation with the patient electronically. The information stored in the facility database is used in advising the managers about the junior staff qualifications for assigning them duties (Rutledge & Gustin, 2021). Because personal relationships may conflict with the selection process of caregivers and other practitioners in handling various tasks within a facility, using electronic means to select qualified staff to undertake a situation are done by managers with the help of telehealth technology.
Implementation
Managers perform a resource assessment for an evaluation of the readiness of telehealth services within a facility. The credentialing of telehealth depends on the requirements and their fulfillment within the place of implementation. Managers must take the information of a framework that can support health systems in a facility. Managers implement telehealth in outpatient sections due to the need to get feedback from patients. The implementation process takes place by gathering specifications and requirements (Rutledge et al., 2021). A manager offers leadership and gives direction on the tasks to be performed. A manager also gives feedback about professionals who take part in telehealth operations.
Integration
During the integration process, managers help to identify the specific needs for telehealth implementation and enable a seamless flow of activities. Validation of the present and future state of workflow within a health facility is done by the manager. The validation enables accuracy in the configuration of virtual connections to communicate with patients and other required participants within a condition such as virtual surgeons (Rutledge & Gustin, 2021). Telehealth programs are aligned and created to offer help to patients and staff but customization is needed to fit various facilities. For example, telehealth programs within a maternity hospital cannot be similar to those available in an intensive care unit (ICU).
Evaluation
The role of managers is to provide leadership and feedback on the program implemented in a facility. A manager tests the time between a consultation request is made and the time a response is given from a healthcare facility. The program must have a user-friendly interface that can motivate patients to use due to obtain quick responses and advice.
Impact of Telehealth on Organization Users
Telehealth is a solution to experienced delays and failure to reach out to care providers by boosting convenience and introducing easy ways of handling activities. For example, virtual meetings and consultations with patients help in reducing hospitalization risks in senior communities. When people have easy access to health information and advice, they remain vigilant of the slight changes in their lives and seek professional help (Rutledge et al., 2021). The virtual system helps in handling complicated patent situations easily without making them feel ignored or remain in severe pain.
Benefits of Telehealth that Support Quality Outcome
Since telehealth is offered virtually, it benefits people by controlling and managing infectious diseases. Avoiding crowds within hospitals helps to reduce disease transmissions from one patient to another hence leading to a healthy society. To the elderly and typically ill patients that need acute care and attention, family connections are made stronger and they become so close to the patients to offer help and support (Rutledge & Gustin, 2021). The regular schedules of doctor consultations or checkups enable family members to ensure their availability to receive doctor comments. Lastly, the telehealth program allows for better assessment because privacy is maintained. A doctor talking on the phone with a patient can help to manage confidentiality and privacy unlike when a patient can be heard talking to a doctor in a consultation room.
References
Rutledge, C. M., & Gustin, T. (2021). Preparing nurses for roles in telehealth: Now is the time. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 26(1).
Rutledge, C. M., O’Rourke, J., Mason, A. M., Chike-Harris, K., Behnke, L., Melhado, L., & Gustin, T. (2021). Telehealth competencies for nursing education and practice: the four Ps of telehealth. Nurse educator, 46(5), 300.