Connected health, also known as technology enabled care (TEC), objectives have moved into the spotlight, especially in the last few months. As everyone struggles to face the recent health crisis, there’s a great deal of energy devoted to using technology to support patient care and improve patient outcomes. TEC includes telecommunications, videoconferencing, and digital imaging capabilities that enable healthcare professionals and patients to connect. Without TEC it would be nearly impossible for healthcare professionals to assess, consult, diagnose, monitor, and intervene in a patient’s well-being.
A fully connected health system requires devices such as: sensors to capture information about the patient’s behavior and biometrics; digital interfaces for patients; caregivers and healthcare providers; and, a secure, compliant cloud database platform designed for reliable data transfer and comprehensive analytics. Success depends on the IT team implementing a cloud-based electronic health record system to centralize and secure the database.
Finding the right tools to support a smart health ecosystem and the support of these tools often falls on the shoulders of the IT tech team. Recently CHIME conducted an online study with CIOs, senior IT executives, and clinical informaticists. The study, “What are Your 2020 Priorities as a Healthcare IT Leaders?,” identified the top 10 challenges of health IT leaders. The number one challenge and priority: improving the overall IT product/technology processes.
5 Critical Areas of Focus for the IT Tech Team
Based on our work with healthcare providers and members of the healthcare IT teams, we recommend the IT tech team focuses upon 5 key areas for TEC:
- Provide self-service portals. Anticipate the most common questions. By having tools and resources like this in place it makes it easy for users to find the answers quickly. Healthcare issues can quickly escalate, so it’s important that the technology facilitates providers and patients from interacting. Self-service systems enable healthcare providers and staff to solve issues themselves. It also frees the IT service team up for more valuable work. Even complicated tickets can be resolved faster with better allocation of resources for non-routine issues.
- Proactively manage upgrades. All systems should regularly be upgraded. The IT team should know the status of every system, including impending upgrades, in order to make upgrades as soon as they are available. Upgrades are crucial to ensure the healthcare organization meets and remains compliant with regulatory requirements.
- Help users navigate the user interface. When it comes to healthcare there is often a great deal of data being shared all at once. Take the time to become familiar with the user interface before it is deployed so you can properly train users.
- Track and monitor assets and facilities location and usage. There are numerous assets associated with healthcare and they often moved from one place to another. In an emergency, it’s crucial to know where the assets are located quickly. In addition, there are tremendous operational aspects associated with a medical facility. Everything from heating to lighting to ventilation. Improve overall efficiency by having a single-service desk that can provide unified support to IT and facilities.
- Technology for healthcare is changing rapidly. Implementing technology in medicine is often a steep learning curve for everyone involved. As new services and systems are added, users may find it difficult to learn and use new technologies. Users will need ongoing support. It is important for IT teams to be able to quickly process and manage service requests. Deploy a ticket management system that will support both internal and external users.
Connected health is making it possible for the healthcare industry to deliver quality clinical patient care, 24/7/365. Reliable IT support is a critical link in enabling connected health to have a significant impact on the lives of patients. From the performance of advanced medical devices to the use of administrative systems depends on the capabilities of the IT service desk. With the help of a ticket management system, IT support teams are able to respond to user requests efficiently and accurately work to address the technology issues. Let’s talk how you can improve productivity and user experience.