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Implementation Plan for Telehealth Technology

Implementation Plan for Telehealth Technology

Telehealth is using better communications networks by medical practitioners in their daily activities to share health information and provide medical treatments across cultural, social, time, and geographic barriers. Information Technology (IT) advancements are transforming people's lives, and the healthcare profession is no exception (Pendse & Nugent, 2017). The growing demands on our healthcare system, notably in care availability and healthcare personnel supply, necessitate a rethinking and reform of the system. Similarly, incorporating modern information technology as a means of addressing the healthcare system's considerable concerns looks inevitable, and telehealth is critical in addressing these issues. Telehealth systems should first be integrated into the daily activities of health care practitioners, working as tools to improve the provider-patient relationship (Lurie & Carr, 2018). The rate at which telemedicine is increasing is unfavorable since it is slow and monitored. Telehealth systems will almost certainly change people's lives, not just on a personal level but also in the group of health care professionals and organizations in general.

Telehealth Infrastructure in Healthcare Organizations

The healthcare services offered in the healthcare organization will improve and benefit different sectors, including follow-up patients with chronic illnesses. Currently, mobile health services are used by 50 percent of the patients in our healthcare organization. In this sense, the new telehealth technology will encompass some of our community's most prevalent and severe health concerns. The technology features include virtual appointments, a patient portal, physician appointments, and remote patient monitoring (Pendse & Nugent, 2017). Patients will also be able to regulate their blood pressure and blood glucose remotely and contact their primary health care doctors continuously.

Implementing technology, access to broadband internet, staff training, and enough access to technical assistance are key infrastructural needs for adopting telehealth technology. Our facility already has the necessary infrastructure in place. The IT staff has assured that the available bandwidth will allow audio and video data to be transmitted. Furthermore, imaging equipment is accessible, making it easier for clinicians to monitor patients remotely. Before the system is introduced, all employees must be trained to use it (Lurie & Carr, 2018). The healthcare providers' training session has been organized for all departments in this regard. The new system may have an impact on how things are done. As a result, the training session will include integrating the new system and making necessary adjustments.

Tasks and Responsibilities

The approach of having telehealth in place, including acquiring all the needed resources and putting it in place, results in the need to assign roles and responsibilities to different stakeholders. However, to ensure that the implementation process runs smoothly and is eventually successful, the executive director and the finance department will document and approve all positions and duties. A few team members may have to work overtime when the project is up and running to ensure everything runs smoothly. The project manager will be in charge of the newly adopted telehealth in the healthcare facility. Choosing the proper person for the job requires clinical experience and leadership qualities. For the technical team to work together on telehealth technology, a program coordinator will also be chosen, and this is done through a consensus approach to ensure proper leadership is experienced. The coordinator's principal responsibility will be to inform the organization of the project's progress. As a result of their efforts, the technology will be better managed and refined, allowing it to be more valuable in the long run.

There will be a manager and a coordinator for each department, and one of their key duties will be to train the employees. Each department will issue an onboarding schedule so that they may understand what skills are required and how long the process will take. On the other hand, the IT department will be in charge of the transportation, installation, and maintenance of the hardware, including the network routers, computers and other devices. Help for patients using the new system will be provided by a specific group of nurses skilled and trained in telehealth. Their patients will learn how to take their vital signs, such as blood pressure and glucose readings. Some nurses will be in charge of finding new telehealth patients. They will be in charge of adding new patients to the system, checking prescriptions for accuracy, and keeping track of the inventory of medical devices.

Public relations will be in charge of getting the word out about telehealth. The program's marketing would be crucial to its success in an ideal world. Public relations will educate the public on how the new method is superior to conventional methods. Ads and community education campaigns will also fall under their purview. In addition, the initiative will be included in the hospital's brochure so that patients may learn more about it when they come in for their checkups.

Implementation Schedule

Simple services will be the first to be prioritized by introducing telehealth technologies. When it comes to patient portals and virtual appointments, the first phase will focus on those. As a result, services like patient monitoring will be added to the process. The implementation schedule is heavily reliant on executive leadership's cooperation. The executive is responsible for sponsorship and ensuring that the resources are available to finish the project on time. In addition, the implementation process will consider different aspects, such as the most suitable patients for the program, insurance for doctors and other interstate services (Thorpe, Barrett, & Goodwin, 2014). In order to make sure the facility stays on track with its ultimate goals and mission, metrics for measuring service delivery success will be devised. Below is the implementation schedule.

Implementation Task	Timeline
Facility and needs evaluation (gaps, resources needed, skills available etc.)	4-5 months
Equipment installation	6-8 months
Equipment testing and simulation	4-6 months
Credentialing the Physicians	2-4 months
Scheduling system establishment	3-4 months
Identifying the best patient candidates for the program	6-8 months
Healthcare providers and entire staff training	3-4 months
Patient education	4-5 months
We are establishing metrics for measuring the program's effectiveness.	Deployment-7 months

Staff Training Requirements and Strategies

Virtual data collection, patient safety and patient education are a few of the most important topics to be covered during the training. The success of telehealth largely hinges on the quality of patient education provided during the implementation phase. Patients need to know what services are available and how to get them. If the provider decides that a physical appointment is in the patient's best interest, they can switch the virtual appointment to a physical one (Abel, 2018). There will be an emphasis on patient and nurse education regarding the program's potential safety risks. For example, a healthcare provider cannot listen to the patient's heartbeat during a virtual visit. Verbal communication will therefore be vital to the program's success. Providers will be taught how to cope with patients who have communication difficulties in this area. This situation will greatly prefer a face-to-face meeting (Lurie & Carr, 2018). Additionally, burst training is an essential phase in the deployment. Nurses will be taught how to operate in virtual environments primarily through computers, mobile devices, digital assessment tools, and telemonitoring technologies.

Collaboration Strategies of Patients and Providers

The first step in implementing telemedicine is to figure out what the patient wants and needs. According to a recent study, more than half of the United States relies on the internet to obtain information on healthcare (Abel, 2018). Ambulatory care services will benefit from the new telehealth technology since patients can access credible health information. Telehealth encounters are one-on-one to maintain the program's efficacy. As a result, patients can expect high-quality care that is given with dignity and respect. In addition, the healthcare services offered will be tailored to the individual's specific needs. Patients will have more informed choices in healthcare. I will consider adopting the transformative leadership that is critical in involving the staff in the process, making them accountable, and having the freedom to deliver quality in implementing telehealth.

Post Deployment Telehealth technology Evaluation and Maintenance Strategy

The maintenance strategy that the hospital is looking forward to adopting for telehealth has the IT specialized staff that will continuously monitor and upgrade the telehealth systems and the computers and network routers. The ongoing maintenance and support are that the users are in continuous training that is done quarterly and also the regular evaluation of the strategy by the quality team to achieve consistency and efficiency. Telehealth's success will be determined by factors such as assessment, upkeep, and long-term viability. The strategy element requires an evaluation that will include planning, execution, and indicators for success measurement (Abel, 2018). Every step will be inspected for completeness and accuracy throughout the implementation process.

To begin with, stakeholders will determine the program's ultimate aims. However, there is a need to gauge the program's success, and an impact evaluation will be conducted (Randazzo, 2018). Participants in the telehealth technology evaluation process must be prepared for the most significant results.

Conclusion

Most medical centers should invest in and use telehealth in order to meet the demands of providing trustworthy and responsible healthcare services. The application of cutting-edge technology in the medical profession is a problem that must be approached with care. Telehealth deployment requires the use of a variety of devices and apps. Organizations all across the world are benefiting from the use of telehealth. It makes everyday chores more accessible and even lowers the operating cost for all users. The value of this application and the readiness of the organization to implement telehealth applications should be evaluated through a series of processes.

References

Abel, R. (2018). MaineHealth: Development, Implementation, and Success in Telehealth for Home Care. Telehealth and Medicine Today, 2(5). https://doi.org/10.30953/tmt.v2.32

Lurie, N., & Carr, B. G. (2018). The role of telehealth in the medical response to disasters. JAMA Internal Medicine, 178(6), 745-746.

Pendse, S. R., & Nugent, N. R. (2017). Mental health challenges and opportunities in rural communities. The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, 33(6), 1-7.

Randazzo, G. (2018). Challenges and opportunities facing nurse executives in the era of value-based care. Nurse Leader, 16(2), 96-100.

Thorpe, J., Barrett, D., & Goodwin, N. (2014). Examining perspectives on telecare: factors influencing adoption, implementation, and usage. Smart Homecare Technology and TeleHealth, 1. https://doi.org/10.2147/shtt.s53770