Telemedicine for Obese Patients

Telemedicine for Obese Patients

The development of technology has opened new frontiers even in the medial industry. Currently, the stakeholders in the healthcare industry are developing mechanisms to provide medical solutions to patients. The proposal includes measures to develop and implement telemedicine as well as the components of data collection and the feasibility studies.

Proposal

The adoption of technology has grown rapidly in the healthcare sector. Besides, the high-level technologies that the industry uses to treat complex illnesses and surgeries, the stakeholders in the sector have begun adopting electronic information and communication technologies to provide comprehensive medical care to the patients. The new paradigm has led to the concept of telemedicine. Notably, telemedicine is the use of electronic information and communication technologies to bring distant and dispersed patients closer to medical providers (Daim, Basoglu & Topacan, 2013). Under telemedicine, the physicians use the technologies to capture the data of the patients remotely and make recommendations through the phone.

Indeed, after the adoption of remote and e-services in other industries such as online booking for hotels and online ticket booking in the aviation industry, the stakeholders in the health sector developed measures to incorporate similar services in the industry. One of the major motivations for the adoption of technology is the rising number of customers in the country, which puts a strain on the available medical resources. Besides, the number of outpatient customers increased, thus inhibiting the provision of quality services to inpatient customers. What’s more, the number of people with lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and obesity increased significantly. Though such patients do not need inpatient services, they need closer monitoring to determine their health needs. As such, the adoption of telemedicine will enable the hospital to keep tabs on such patients and advise them remotely on their diet, exercises, and the medication that they should take.

The other motivation for the adoption of telemedicine is the increasing cost of healthcare in the country. After the recent amendments which require better reporting and management practices in the industry, the costs of providing healthcare services have increased. Furthermore, the general inflation rate in the country has also increased. Therefore, there is a need to adopt technologies that will reduce operating costs while maintaining high-quality services. Furthermore, the country is witnessing shortages in personnel, especially highly-trained doctors. The adoption of the technology enables nurse practitioners to monitor a wide target of patients at the same time and have them visit the hospital periodically when the physician advises.

The potential subjects in the proposal are obese patients. Notably, the number of obese patients in the United States has increased, especially in the last decade. Ogden, Carroll, Kit, and Flegal state that thirty-four percent of adults above the age of twenty are obese (2014). Besides, they state that eight percent of toddlers below the age of two years are obese, while sixteen percent of children between two years and nineteen years suffer from the illness. Indeed, the number of women suffering from obesity above the age of sixty has also increased from thirty-five percent to thirty-eight percent (Ogden, Carroll, Kit, & Flegal, 2014). The setting of the new proposal will include both the hospital and the patients’ homes.

Since the management of obese patients takes a long time, the timeline for the implementation of the proposal must be long-term. Nevertheless, the organization will require at least three months, shifting all the patients’ data on the new platform. Besides, training the patients on how to use telemedicine may take at least three weeks. Nonetheless, the number of new patients will keep increasing. As such, the organization should institute measures to ensure continuous training of the patients on the new frontier.

Resources

There are several resources that the hospital will require to implement the proposal. The first is the smart devices such as remote health monitoring devices that can measure the health vitals of the patient. Secondly, the new proposal will require the adoption of electronic health record systems. The electronic health records systems are digital platforms that organizations in the healthcare use to monitor and store the data of the patients. Due to the increasing number of patents in the sector, the adoption of electronic health records seeks to improve the efficiency of and effectiveness of the healthcare providers (Jha, DesRoches, Campbell, Donelan, Rao, & Ferris, 2009).

The other resource that the organization will need is personal digital assistants. The personal digital assistants are portable devices that the doctors can use to monitor the health of the patients. Consequently, the new proposal will require the hospital to set aside monetary resources to purchase the devices and develop the new electronic health records system. Besides, the new proposal will require trained personnel.

Changes in Clinical Processes and Tools

The new proposal will change several clinical processes. Notably, the patients use remote smart devices to measure vital signs and upload them on the electronic health records system. The doctors use personal digital devices to log onto the system and access the patient’s data. The new processes will reduce the physical interaction between the patient and the doctor while maintaining the quality of services. Moreover, the new proposal will lead to the adoption of new tools such as the smart devices that the doctors use to monitor the health of the patients as well as the electronic health records systems.

Monitoring Implementation

The implementation of the proposal will take place in a complex environment. Therefore, some of the aspects may take place as the management plans. As such, it is essential to use the implementation research toolkit to determine inconsistencies in the implementation stage. The implementation research toolkit is a comprehensive document that has the objectives of the proposal and the stages in which the management will carry out the tasks. One of the aspects of the toolkit is data collection. The new proposal will use primary methods of data collection, such as physical interviews with the doctors, to determine whether they can access the records of the patients on the electronic health records system. The data collection criteria will also include physical observations to evaluate the level of data that the organization has shifted onto the new platform. Nevertheless, the management will also rely on the feedback from the users of the new proposals on the efficiency of the technology and whether it needs any improvements.

Delivering the Solution

Delivering the solution will be complex as well. Since the organization cannot stop its daily activities, the management will have to hire a consultancy firm to help in restructuring the company. Besides, the hospital will have to partner with neighboring organizations and refer some of the patients to such partners to reduce its patient traffic for a while, thus allowing it to focus on the migration. Nonetheless, the training of the personnel to handle the new proposals must happen before the migration. In the initial stages, the organization will only shift a small number of patients and doctors onto the platform. After receiving feedback, the organization will analyze the weaknesses and recommend solutions to strengthen the system. Eventually, the organization will incorporate all the other stakeholders on the platform. Besides, any new patients who come after the implementation of the system will utilization the telemedicine aspects.

Data Management

The cost of establishing an entire department to handle data management is expensive. The advancement in technology has provided cheaper alternatives to store and manage the data. The Internet of Things will enable the organization to store its data in the Cloud and retrieve it anytime. Notably, the electronic health records system and smart devices can collect the data. However, the new proposal will enable the organization to grant access to information the authorized physicians and nurses through secured connections. Therefore, individuals become decentralized data managers.

Management of Barriers

One of the barriers that the organization may face in the implementation of the new technology is employee resistance. Notably, employee resistance may stem from a variety of elements. First, the employees fear that they may not access the records of the patients and other forms of data if the system crashes (Mahalli, 2015). Notably, technology is susceptible to cyber-crime, which distorts the records with the system. Besides, the nurses also fear the disruption to their normal working processes. Over the years, the medical adopt efficient means of delivering services as a result of the learning curve. However, the introduction of technology may lead to communication breakdown, especially when some of the stakeholders do not know how to utilize the system. The management must consult with a technological company that can provide adequate cyber-security to avoid computer crashes. Secondly, the management must engage the employees and assure them that the new technology will only ease their work.

The other barrier that the organization will face is complex regulations by the government.  Notably, the government is mandating healthcare organizations to provide comprehensive data for insurance coverage. Therefore, the organization must develop strategic means to provide the government with the required data as well as developing the electronic health records system without incurring additional costs.

Feasibility

The viability of the implementation depends on various factors.  For instance, different telemedicine factors attract different prices. What’s more, the management must factor the costs of training the doctors as well as the costs of redesign the system after the management receives the feedback from the users. The implementation plan will also include the non-financial costs, which arise due to the time that the employees spend bringing the system online and into full utilization (Fleming et al. 2011). The hospital, however, should note that it will not bear the entire costs alone and will transfer many of the costs to the consumers.

Draft Budget

References

Daim, T. U., Basoglu, N., & Topacan, U. (2013). Adoption of health information technologies: the case of a wireless monitor for diabetes and obesity patients. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 25(8), 923-938.

Fleming, N. S., Culler, S. D., McCorkle, R., Becker, E. R., & Ballard, D. J. (2011). The financial and non-financial costs of implementing electronic health records in primary care practices. Health Affairs, 30(3), 481-489.

Jha, A. K., DesRoches, C. M., Campbell, E. G., Donelan, K., Rao, S. R., Ferris, T. G., … & Blumenthal, D. (2009). Use of electronic health records in US hospitals. New England Journal of Medicine, 360(16), 1628-1638.

Mahalli, A. E. (2015). Adoption and barriers to adoption of electronic health records by nurses in three governmental hospitals in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Perspectives in health information management, 12(Fall).

Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Kit, B. K., & Flegal, K. M. (2014). Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. Jama, 311(8), 806-814.