Answer all questions and Cite all sources (HSM 310 V.)

1, Discuss the importance of project management on virtual healthcare offerings that occurred during COVID.
2. Discuss the potential drawbacks, have you used online for your healthcare? and what was your experience?

ANSWER

Project Management in Virtual Healthcare

Virtual healthcare is the use of every available technological device like videos, mobile apps, telephones, text messages, and other forms of technological communication to provide healthcare services to patients outside the healthcare facility. This form of healthcare has greatly influenced and transformed the healthcare sector, as physicians and patients can effectively interact without the burden associated with traveling to facilities. With the spread of COVID-19 nationwide, the use of virtual healthcare was catalyzed on not only for necessity purposes but also for safety concerns (Reddy et al., 2021). Many health organizations shifted to virtual healthcare to render services and reach out to patients without close interactions. The utilization of virtual healthcare in April 2020 increased 78 times the amount it was in February of the same year.

The increased use of virtual healthcare was promoted for various reasons by both the public and healthcare officials. For instance, as the spread of COVID-19 spiked, there was an increase in consumer willingness to engage in virtual health care (Jnr, 2020). The willingness was also transcended to healthcare providers as part of protecting themselves from the pandemic. The third reason for the increased use in this form of healthcare was several regulatory changes by the government involving access and reimbursements between doctors and patients. However, transforming from face-to-face interaction to virtual healthcare necessitated several project management and regulations by healthcare systems for the transformation to be a success. This essay will analyze the importance of project management on virtual healthcare that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Identification of Specific needs

The fundamental form of project management in the integration of virtual healthcare was identifying the specific need that virtual healthcare would address. This involved identifying the key medicine fields that could be done through virtual healthcare. These include TeleAnesthesia, TeleCardiology, Tele Critical care, TeleInfectous Diseases, among others (Barnett et al., 2021). Identifying specific needs was also a form of planning the implementation of the appropriate form of virtual healthcare that would suit both the patients and doctors. It included asking critical questions about the technology, like how it would improve doctors’ interaction efficiency and provide care to patients. It also helped answer the nature of the scope of the technology and which areas would benefit from it. Through identifying the areas that needed virtual healthcare most, hospitals were able to organize, strategize and launch campaigns that helped the company understand the form of Virtual Healthcare adopted by the hospital (Barnnett et al., 2021).

Validation of Current and Future State Workflows

This was also a form of managing the virtual healthcare project. It was important for hospitals to understand what the workflow looked like and the number of patients they survived daily before the pandemic. It also involved looking at how virtual healthcare would still continue to assist such patients without any interruptions while still providing the same quality level of healthcare (Barnett et al., 2021). This also enabled hospitals and project managers to understand the overall scope of virtual healthcare, the challenges it posed, and the prediction of any future uncertainties patients and doctors could face.

Customized Project Plan

After understanding the key areas of concern, and the specific needs that virtual healthcare needed to be addressed, project managers were responsible for developing a customized action plan for virtual healthcare to be effective (Barnett et al., 2021). The customized project plan acted as a guide, which detailed time, dates, phone call hotlines, and video interactions with specific schedules of how doctors and patients could interact. This would enable patients to have a personal interaction, although using technology and not face to face, for medical consultancies and treatment. Such customized project plans were aided by the government prioritizing investments in virtual care, as it invested in further innovation in terms of technology and tripled venture capitalist’s digital healthcare investment. This enabled hospitals to have fully effective virtual websites that ran smoothly and ensured patients needed the care that they needed in real-time.

The introduction of virtual healthcare does not seem to end even after the COVID-19 will be eradicated nationwide. Some patients have expressed excitement over virtual healthcare as effective, minimizing their need to travel long distances or wait in line to get medical attention. It has also helped people save money associated with transport costs and other necessities.  However, there are certain drawbacks of virtual healthcare, and like any other entity, it has not been built to perfection.

Drawbacks of Virtual Healthcare

The key con of using virtual healthcare is that there is limited interaction between the doctor and patient, and thereby certain examinations may not be conducted (Shahabi et al., 2021). As virtual healthcare may be effective for minor conditions, other deep examinations like MRI’s or even physical examination may not be addressed. This may lead to a patient not getting the required treatment or end up developing complications that are too late to address. A virtual visit is not a sufficient tool of examination, and many diseases disguised in the form of other symptoms may go unnoticed and ultimately lead to complications.

I have used virtual healthcare before to address a lump on my head that developed due to falling down the stair. However, I do not think that the experience was satisfactory. The doctor only examined me through the screen, asked a couple of questions, and recommended me a certain prescription. However, I felt like having a personal interaction would be better, as the doctor would have examined me closely and looked for any form of concussion.

References

Barnett, E., Cheung, A., & Loudon, J. (2021). Maintaining quality while adapting to a virtual work environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences, 52(1), 9-10.

Jnr, B. A. (2020). Use of telemedicine and virtual care for remote treatment in response to COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Medical Systems, 44(7), 1-9.

Reddy, G. M. M., Gunda, S., Kompalli, P., Gollapalli, P., & Sevagamoorthy, A. (2021). Virtual doctor consultation, potential to revolutionise healthcare access in resource poor settings: opportunities and challenges. International Journal of Electronic Healthcare, 11(3), 271-287.

Shahabi, S., Maharlouei, N., Jalali, M., & Bagheri Lankarani, K. (2021). Virtual Hospitals During COVID-19 Pandemic: Pros and Cons.