Disrupting Technology in Healthcare
Escalating costs? Regulation? Technology disruption?
Paper instructions:
Reflect on the current national healthcare issue/stressor you selected and think about how this issue/stressor may be addressed in your work setting.
Post a description of the national healthcare issue/stressor you selected for analysis, and explain how the healthcare issue/stressor may impact your work setting. Then, describe how your health system work setting has responded to the healthcare issue/stressor, including a description of what changes may have been implemented. Be specific and provide examples.
Disrupting Technology in Healthcare
Disrupting technology affects how healthcare practice is undertaken. One of the disruptive technologies in the healthcare practice is telemedicine. Telemedicine is affecting the healthcare sector by improving the ability to reach people in remote locations (Calton et al., 2020). For example, I have witnessed a rise in the number of patients who are attended to despite the lockdown during the pandemic. Patients have been unable to receive quality care without visiting the healthcare facility in person (Calton et al., 2020). Another benefit is the ability to serve different patients within a short time and causing congestion in the healthcare facilities (Barnett et al., 2018). During the pandemic, the number of patients admitted to the wards is high causing making telemedicine an essential option in the delivery of care.
The healthcare environment is responding positively to the healthcare issue. Healthcare workers are appreciating the use of technology in the delivery of care. Telemedicine improves the capacity to save the lives of people, especially those with heart conditions (Barnett et al., 2018). Emergency conditions are attended to within a short time, making telemedicine a vital option. The healthcare system is responding positively since healthcare managers are installing systems such as electronic health records to boost the integration of data (Dorsey & Topol, 2020).
The changes that have been implemented in the healthcare environment include the integration of data to boost sharing of information across departments and physicians. Healthcare facilities have adopted systems to protect telemedicine from hackers (Dorsey & Topol, 2020). Hacking can affect the security of the systems thus undermining the security of the system. Installation of firewalls and two-factor authentication to allow patients and healthcare workers to access the system.
References
Barnett, M. L., Ray, K. N., Souza, J., & Mehrotra, A. (2018). Trends in telemedicine use in a large commercially insured population, 2005-2017. Jama, 320(20), 2147-2149.
Calton, B., Abedini, N., & Fratkin, M. (2020). Telemedicine in the time of coronavirus. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 60(1), e12-e14.
Dorsey, E. R., & Topol, E. J. (2020). Telemedicine 2020 and the next decade. The Lancet, 395(10227), 859.
