The past year presented a number of unprecedented challenges for hospitals and health systems. The COVID-19 pandemic placed significant strain on providers, causing a demand for care that their systems were simply not built to handle.
Thankfully, we live in an age of digital health technology, with an array of innovative tools ready to meet multiple hospital needs during this time. Seamlessly deployed across the board, digital health solutions helped ease the burden on hospital resources, providing much needed relief for frontline workers and systems struggling with strained resources.
As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the U.S. with vaccines rapidly coming to market, the single biggest challenge in 2021 will be managing the demand, deployment and administrative requirements of the vaccine.
Vaccine Approval
With COVID-fatigue plaguing the nation, individuals everywhere are anxiously monitoring vaccine availability in hopes that they bring us one step closer to ending this pandemic. Now approved by the FDA, COVID-19 vaccines will be in high demand across the country. What’s more, patients are going to have questions – what is the distribution plan in my area? Am I eligible? Where and how do I receive vaccination?
The COVID-19 vaccine will be available in a phased approach, with priority populations varying state-by-state, and in some cases by zip code. It is expected that, in most states, frontline workers and the most vulnerable populations will be first to receive immunization. Considering the approval, providers need to be prepared with digital tools and infrastructure to manage the huge onslaught of patient inquiries and vaccine demand along with ongoing support for booster, side effects, and follow-up interactions.
Virtual Assistants for Vaccine Distribution
Technology can provide that infrastructure, helping providers avoid becoming overwhelmed by the demand while also ensuring a safe and seamless experience for patients, which in turn will help accelerate widespread immunity protection.
Across the country, well over 100,000 Americans are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, and these numbers continue to climb along with rising positivity rates. Similar to the earliest days of the pandemic, this surge in patients is filling hospitals to capacity and beyond.
The resulting shortage of beds and clinicians threatens to compromise quality of patient care and even raise the specter of rationing care in some hard-hit communities.
Increasingly, hospitals are recognizing that telemedicine provides a powerful tool for stretching limited resources by preventing and better managing overcrowding.
Telemedicine can make a critical difference in three key ways:
Telemedicine enables rural hospitals to treat patients with complex needs, reducing or eliminating the need for transfers. For critical access hospitals without specialists such as cardiologists or pulmonologists on staff, managing patients with complex or high-risk medical needs – whether COVID-19 related or not – typically requires transferring them to a tertiary facility. By providing virtual access to experienced board-certified specialists as needed, telemedicine allows rural hospitals to diagnose and treat many of these patients right in their own facility.
For example, consider a patient admitted to a rural hospital presenting with elevated biomarker levels. Through telemedicine, a cardiologist can remotely evaluate whether the patient is having a heart attack or displaying COVID-related organ stress. The specialist can then collaborate with on-site care providers to determine if the patient can successfully be cared for internally.
Telemedicine can also play a valuable role in critical access facilities when patients admitted with COVID-19 begin to suffer increased respiratory stress. A pulmonologist can remotely evaluate whether intubation is required. If it is not, the specialist can also help continue to treat the patient safely in place, avoiding the need for transfer.
In addition, telemedicine can provide or supplement hospitalist services, including rounding and admission coverage, for rural hospitals. This capability stretches limited resources and supports local physicians’ ability to provide quality care for all patients in-house.
By Rahul Varshneya, founder and president, Arkenea.
Rural communities, often located amid isolated yet beautiful landscapes, are a defining feature of much of the United States of America. But those same landscapes can, at times, make it arduous for people to gain access to something as basic as a healthcare facility.
In these regions, patients are often tens of hundreds of miles from the location of their nearest caregiver. Community hospitals, with limited budgets and low volumes, generally don’t have specialists. And even if they do, there are too few to ensure constant coverage.
Telehealth is transforming these situations to everyone’s advantage.
A recent study of Intermountain’s neonatal telehealth program evaluated the effect of video-assisted resuscitation on the transfer of newborns from eight community hospitals to newborn ICUs in Level 3 trauma centers. The service produced a 29.4% reduction in a newborn’s odds of being transferred, which corresponds annually to 67 fewer transfers — and estimated savings of $1.2 million for affected families.
By leveraging telehealth, patients can receive expert treatment locally without the added cost and risk of transfer to a bigger hospital. Local hospitals retain vital revenue and ameliorate their services. Community members get better care that’s based on evidence-based best practices. Health care is far better overall.
1) Bringing Patients and Care Providers Closer for Better Outcomes
Most patients in the rural or suburban settings of the southwest, like the ones living in the remote terrains of Nevada, lack the necessary resources to travel to a healthcare facility.
Even for patients living in the urban areas, public transportation can be grueling and tedious. Less mobile or older patients might also not always have family or acquaintances who can be their caretaker and take them for frequent clinical visits.
Telemedicine can help such patients feel more independent. One study found that the use of a specific home-telemedicine strategy for care coordination improved functional independence in non-institutionalized veterans with chronic conditions.
Not only does telemedicine adoption help patients manage their conditions, it is equally beneficial for healthcare providers too.
Hospitals, clinics, public health offices and private practice healthcare providers in the southwest have been receiving free technical assistance for implementing or expanding their current telemedicine programs from various government authorities for quite some time now.
Since laws governing telehealth and reimbursement greatly differ by state, various Telehealth Research Centers (TRCs) spread across the country help providers discover the latest telemedicine and telehealth laws and regulations that apply in the state where the provider’s practice is based.
TRCs are also helping providers – generally free of charge – in developing a business model for telehealth in their healthcare setting, selecting the appropriate telemedicine platform as well as equipment, and providing education to patients alike on how to leverage telemedicine technologies to improve health outcomes and access to healthcare services.
The internet, online websites, and mobile applications have simplified our lives. It is no longer an option but has become a basic necessity for leading a comfortable life. Therefore, as the world is advancing, more and more sectors are entering the digital market. The medical industry is not an exception.
Today, medical applications have enabled users to access medical facilities from their homes. Thanks to medical apps, people can now keep tabs on their health-related data and take necessary actions to fight diseases even before their first symptoms start showing themselves. It has proved to be beneficial for serving the people living in inaccessible areas.
Now, the clinics’ administrative duties are easy to complete, and it also takes less time. It is easier to maintain and organize files, search for old records with doctors, share the documents with other clinics, and make/cancel appointments.
Biological psychiatry is a type of psychiatric that analyzes mental disorders from chemical, neurological, and physical viewpoints and in which psychiatrists prescribe treatment protocols accordingly. The approach also is known as biopsychiatry.
Biological psychiatry brings various scientific disciplines from several sectors, including biology, genetics, neuroscience, and psychopharmacology, with the overwhelming intent of understanding mental illness as a product of the nervous system’s biological functioning.
Biological psychiatry traces its origins to the Greek physician Hippocrates. During the last 150 years, physical factors have been studied to determine possible hooks into developing antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs.
Therapies, including imipramine and Thorazine, which encouraged biological processes and healthy chemical operation, profoundly impacted the study of the nervous system’s relationship with mental illness. Most research related to it is focused on bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease by way of brain imaging, medication management, and diet and exercise plans.
We have turned a page to the next chapter in healthcare for the US. At its core is a new delivery system in which we leverage all available tools to allocate our precious resources, and the patient is at the center of it all.
We have a severe shortage of providers in the U.S. and must utilize the right tools at the right time to match patients to the right resources in the right place. In addition, healthcare needs to be more consumer-centric, as we are witnessing a rising demand of patients seeking options like telehealth that deliver high quality care faster, more conveniently, and affordably.
Lastly, as we adapt our care deliver models in the future, we need to keep an eye on reducing the stark inequities that have become glaringly apparent during this pandemic. Modalities like telehealth hold the promise to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate access to care through expanded networks and to help close gaps in care and address social determinants of health.
Telehealth solutions can be used to optimize the efficiency of healthcare delivery and ultimately improve patient experience. One mode of telehealth, eConsults, ensure that patients are treated by the right provider in the right setting, by facilitating effective peer collaboration that can support all providers to operate at the top of their license. What that means in practice is that primary care providers can get guidance from specialists to help design care plans, and that in-person visits to specialists can be reserved for those patients with more complex issues who cannot be treated virtually.
The emergence of technology is rampant nowadays. From the convenience of the person using it allows reduction of legwork in a few touches of the smartphone. In order to run a business-like Gym Management Software, here are some things you need to consider:
Registration of Gym members online
Automation of monthly payments
Upgrade software for the weekly program
Progress tracking thru online
Sell Retail Products
Registration of Gym members Online
One of the most important parts of having a digital support such as gym management software is to have the proper registry of the aspiring members. It inculcates the need of modernizing the demography of the registrant such as age, weight, height, and identification if there are some health hazards and limitations upon joining the membership in the gym. It reduces the risks of exposing the information through the online way of information safekeeping.
Since it is essential to a person’s health monitoring, a start-up based on demographics is equivalent to proper training and nutrition. This will be the guide on how to provide the training programs and online registration identifies the situation and physical analysis of a member. This keeps the proper track and improvements of the member. Thus, the indication of improvement of an individual is registering online with correct demographics.
When you have a close friend who is struggling with addiction, it can be painful and challenging to watch the destruction they experience. If you’re unsure of how to approach the situation and interact as they have an addiction, there are a few main steps to take.
Create Trust
Establishing trust with a close friend is essential as they struggle with addiction to ensure they’re still open to your suggestions and guidance. Avoid nagging or criticizing them, which can make them become defensive and feel judged. You also want to avoid exaggerating or calling them names, which can lead to the individual distancing themselves from your relationship.
Practice Communication
Communication is key to getting your friend the help you need and helping them realize the severity of the situation. It can also allow them to be supported if they’re ready to seek professional help. Remain honest about your feelings and don’t try to sugarcoat your emotions to ensure the individual understands how their addiction has personally affected you.
