Posted: March 24th, 2023

TELEHEALTH IMPLEMENTATION

Telehealth and Applications for Delivering Care at a Distance Centre

Among various technological innovations in healthcare service delivery, telemedicine is one of the most revolutionary approaches in terms of overcoming cultural, social, and economic barriers. Telemedicine has significantly improved access to healthcare and enhanced the quality of services and organizational efficiency. More importantly, the platform is perceived as an integral part that will drive healthcare service delivery in the future. The innovation has succeeded in addressing numerous healthcare-related challenges, including the increased mobility, the growing demand for care, and increasingly aging populations. Although telehealth has potential to deliver significant advantages to society and healthcare providers, the platform is yet to become fully integrated and accepted within the systems of service delivery to the levels that would bring tangible benefits to stakeholders.

Usability Test

For a telehealth system to be effective, it must be acceptable by all users who will rely on it for access or delivery of medical care. Increasing acceptance rates of the planned telemedicine framework by patients and practitioners will require vigorous testing and evaluation for usability. Bevan (2008) defines usability as a set of characteristics that influence the necessary effort for using an item as well as the specific assessment of each type of user. It is also the degree that consumers can utilize a product to realize the set goals (Singh, Lutteroth & Wunsche, 2010). For this project, usability will focus on how manageable the process will be for users to complete basic tasks after an encounter with the interface for the first time.

The usability tests will focus on the overall design, functionality, appearance, and user-friendliness of the platform rated by the clients and healthcare providers. The criteria will be both qualitative and quantitative to obtain a comprehensive report on the ability of the project to generate the desired outcomes. Besides, the usability tests will provide direct information from a population segment of potential users on their experiences with the platform (Bevan, 2009). Hence, the comments, suggestions, and the challenges experienced will inform the design of user guidelines and the elimination or simplification of the steps that would present challenges to consumers.

Selecting the most appropriate usability test will require an understanding of the challenges related to the issue. For the project, the main problem would arise if the process of platform design and development fails to include potential users who would provide significant insights on enhancing the acceptable levels of the solution. In general, usability assessments can be grouped into three broad categories: inspection, testing, and inquiry (Singh, Lutteroth & Wunsche, 2010). Therefore, both user testing and usability inspection will be at the core of project evaluation.

User testing will involve consumers who will perform specific tasks on the platform and report the challenges encountered and the general experiences with interface navigation. The feedback will be used to make improvements and align the platform with clients’ needs (Lopez, Valenzuela, Calderon, Velasco & Fajardo, 2011). On its part, usability inspection will entail enlisting technical experts to examine the usability status of the solution-based on their professional experience. Hence, users will provide ideas and suggestions for making the interface more useful for clients.

Protecting Patients’ Privacy and Information Rights

One of the most important aspects in the healthcare sector is the protection of the patients’ privacy by ensuring that a third party does not access any information. In the age of technology and the internet, patient privacy and confidentiality has become a critical and highly complex aspect of healthcare (Noonan, 2018). The growth of remote service delivery through electronic platforms has also generated salient considerations on how best to protect the rights of clients in the healthcare system from deliberate or inadvertent rights infringement.

Undoubtedly, electronic data is more challenging to secure as it can be accessed from anywhere in the world by individuals with malicious intentions. Hence, the implementation of the telemedicine platform should consider proactive strategies that will protect clients’ data and safeguard their right to privacy. Firstly, all healthcare professionals using the telemedicine platform will be required to affirm their professional mandate in ensuring patient privacy as they would in offline setup (Noonan, 2018). Thus, the same legal and ethical provisions governing the rights of patients to confidentiality will bind them.

Furthermore, the practitioners will bear the responsibility of ensuring that no unauthorized person can access patient information at the points where it is obtained or stored. This aspect is particularly important considering the involvement of technical personnel in maintaining the systems where confidential doctor-patient information is stored. Measures will be implemented to ensure that only physicians have access to such databases. In addition, to mitigate the risk of hacking, the project will include a data encryption provision during storage or when electronically transmitting the information. Other methods will consist of firewalls and antivirus software to prevent attacks from malware and computer virus that would compromise clients’ data.

Training Requirements

Training is a significant component when initiating telemedicine platforms. Users and technical personnel require knowledge and information about how the platform functions, possible challenges, troubleshooting, and other issues related to the proper application of the interface and the resolution of common problems (De Costa et al.,  2012). Training for the project will include various healthcare practitioners who will be using the system, such as doctors, nurses, specialists, and administrators. In addition to the use of the solution in delivering healthcare from a distance, the practitioners will also be trained on essential information for instructing patients on accessing and navigating their interface to communicate with professionals.

Furthermore, technical personnel will be trained about maintenance, repair, and troubleshooting common challenges encountered in the system. The administrative staff will also require training on accessing and navigating the interface to communicate with professionals or the patients (Noonan, 2018). The training will only be basic considering that the interface is designed to be intuitive, which will ease the navigation process for all users.

Conclusion

As it is evident from the discussion, significant factors are considered when initiating a telemedicine platform for professionals to deliver medical care to patients remotely and for administrators to connect the clients with the most relevant provider. The report highlights important factors to consider for a successful implementation of telemedicine for distant locations. Understanding the reality of this form of e-health requires knowledge about the processes and interactions that transpire in the application of information and communication technology in a healthcare system, the administrative changes that should be accounted for, appropriate management approaches, specific services, and the organizational culture. By adhering to the recommendations on the practical aspects of design, deployment, integration, and evaluation of the acceptance rates, the telemedicine platform can expand healthcare accessibility and improve service delivery.