Marketing Research & Capstone Project: Proposal Tele Health

Telehealth
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Abstract
Telehealth usage is increasingly on the rise as its importance is becoming apparent in patient care. There are many different interpretations of the meaning of telehealth but the most commonly accepted is that it is “the use of telecommunications and information technologies to share information, and provide clinical care, education, public health, and administrative services at a distance.” The increased adoption of telehealth is driven by the urge to deliver the best quality health care. To many people, telehealth is important in maintaining independence and managing health. However, integrating telehealth into routine practice has become very difficult. The ability of telehealth to change the way medicine is practiced is apparent. Using the internet, patients can now access crucial health information. According to researchers, patients are thrilled at the chance of consulting a doctor using the same tools they use in communicating with their work colleagues, friends, and families.
The developed and developing countries can take advantage of information and communication technologies to provide workable solutions to their healthcare problems and ensure cost-effective, high-quality, and accessible health care. Telehealth takes advantage of ICT to overcome barriers related to biological locations and ensure there is increased access to the needed healthcare services.
The implementation of telehealth will need to undergo several phases. The first phase in the implementation of telehealth is evaluating needs. Needs evaluation is the most crucial because decisions made here will affect the entire telehealth implementation program. There is need to understand why it is needed going by the kinds of patients attended to. The next phase would involve developing a “care service plan”. The service plan should be developed in response to the needs. The third phase would require developing a business plan and performing risk analysis. These plans would help in determining the sustainability of the implementation program. The fourth phase would be to plan technology. This would require developing specifications for the equipment needed to meet the implementation goals and objectives. The next phase is personnel training. The personnel should be well versed with the working of the technology. Therefore, they will need extensive training to ensure that they never miss a thing. After the training phase, the technology would be tested and its outcomes evaluated to determine if they are accurate.
Problem Description
The cost of medicine provision has been on the rise globally. People living in rural areas face the greatest challenge in having access to quality healthcare. Telehealth is a good and innovative way of ensuring that quality healthcare is delivered in a relatively cost-effective way. Using telehealth, the gap between rural and urban areas with respect to access to healthcare services can be bridged. There is an imbalance in the ratio of doctors to patients; therefore, using telehealth, doctors can expand their patients’ base. Without technologies such as telehealth, doctors would have a difficulty in reaching patients who reside in rural areas. ...