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Operating Effective Patient-Physician Collaboration Remotely

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Corina
Chief Marketing Officer
May 28, 2020 • 3 min

Over the past few weeks, businesses, hospitals, and governments have been working rapidly to get their work and teams up and running online. Digital communication and telemedicine were enforced, and we think it might be here to stay. 
 
Once everyone is equipped with the right tools, it is easy to provide a high standard when speaking with physicians from afar, especially during high-stress situations where the lives of loved ones could be at stake. Digital innovation was part of the long-term plans of most physicians and healthcare institutions, but the pandemic speeds up the process. And we are here to support a healthy digitalization process!

The ultimate goal of medic-patient communication is to improve the patient’s health and well-being. Effective communication is a crucial central element, the heart, and the art of medicine. Its main goal is to facilitate the exchange of information and help patient and medic decision making. 

This way focusing on solving the main problems of this interaction could greatly increase the efficiency of medical treatment and overall patients health. We believe that modern cloud solutions can contribute to this interaction by facilitating a fast and reliable communication channel to aid patient-medic interaction starting from overall treatment and medication dosage evaluation to the patient’s recovery stage assessment. 

It is very important in modern medicine to examine certain condition’s in their context by evaluating patient’s habits in correlation with their symptoms to determine the right actions or medications to improve health (eg. allergy investigations). Self-monitoring of habits and symptoms is a key element to assure a better and more complete communication with our medics. HealMate aims to improve this interaction by leveraging modern mobile and web technologies.
— Szopos Zsombor,
HealMate


3 ways healthcare representatives can help patients remotely 

  1. Take action to define a collaborative approach to healthcare and discuss the team’s roles 
  2. Assign well-documented responsibilities and outline the structure of patients’ online appointment 
  3. Have an innovative and easy to use digital solution for patients to track and report their health from the commodity of their homes

Before going through each step, please note that we highly recommend you strong security management and a high level of understanding in terms of patients’ management, communication and a documented treatment plan from doctors with different areas of expertise to be digitalized.

Define a remotely collaborative approach to healthcare management and patients communication

Define your team structure and who is taking care of who and what (be it online or offline) and don’t forget to encourage an active and interdependent team that constantly communicates with the other team members using the same channels (avoid using different channels or each to its own, but establish something together and make it the norm - such as Slack or something similar). 

Ideally, ensure a channel that is easy to reach through any device, keeps the discussion history and you can have an organized way of communication.

Ensure each person in the team knows their assignment and they do not step over each others’ roles. Even though the patient-physician relationship goes online, the process is pretty much the same: people need to confirm bookings, follow-up, communicate, provide everything as usual.

Assign well-documented responsibilities and outline the structure of patients’ online appointment 

Once each team member knows their role, ensure you document each process. Not everyone is used to e-consults or telemedicine, so each task (that used to be done in a blink) might need very specific documentation now. This helps everyone and achieves shared responsibility and growth.

A good way to quickly learn how to work together again, while being partially online is to start by creating teamwork skills and use a framework or sequence for them -- such as “prepare, think, practice, and act. 

An innovative and easy to use medical apps for patients to track and report their health from the commodity of their homes

Now that your team is prepared to take care of patients who cannot come to the clinic (or at least not that often), it is time to understand and view the patient side. 

Medical apps need flawless security and an interface to build trust and to enhance the bonding between the patient and the physician. And to ensure people can book appointments and inform their doctors about their health, you need a solution at their fingertip -- so, going mobile might work better for the patients, while a web solution might work better for the clinic. 

Medical apps and solutions can vary a lot, from specific areas of healthcare to really broad apps:

  • An app for patients to record and track their symptoms on the go and easily share them with their physician when needed in order to get the right prescription
  • Gastroenterology app for diet tracking and constant feedback on what to improve or change
  • Speech therapy for children through a gamified app and interactive experience
  • Diabetes/glucose monitoring app
  • addiction and dependencies apps
  • Therapy apps 
  • Psychology apps for traumas and anxiety
  • Platform to connect your current therapists with their patients
  • Rehab apps to keep addictions under control 
  • Parenting apps 
  • Kinesiotherapy apps with exercises and patient management 

 
Build Your Medical Software with Wolfpack Digital

We have what it takes to build health apps for prevention, diagnosis, intervention, treatment, recovery, and patient management & communication, and we look forward to working on the next meaningful medical software, especially in these times.  
We really know how to work with health professionals! 
Got a health startup, or are you looking to digitalize any health services or any part of the medical act? Get in touch with us and let’s talk! 


 

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