The COVID-19 pandemic caused wide-scale disruptions to organizations, governments, and service providers around the world. At the same time, organizations had to adjust to the new normal, requiring companies to renew their focus on the latest technologies that enable them to continue operating while practicing social distancing.

Reducing the spread of the novel coronavirus required many businesses to implement processes they couldn’t imagine using before the pandemic. While it may have started as a necessity to keep staff and customers safe, it’s highlighted the possibilities that the latest virtual technologies can provide companies during normal business operations. The benefits of virtual meetings and remote access tools will lead to a new way of doing business or receiving healthcare in the future.

Reducing the Spread of COVID-19 with Virtual Meetings

Very few companies or institutions were prepared for this pandemic. As the virus spread around the globe, organizations had to adapt quickly and find ways to deliver a similar quality of service using digital platforms and technologies. The lessons they learned during this time can help improve internal processes and customer-facing operations in the future.

Companies had to leverage new technologies in innovative ways to maintain some semblance of productivity during the pandemic. Adopting these solutions as part of continued operations can prove beneficial to organizations of any size or type.

Benefits of Virtual Meetings for Organizations

During this learning curve, companies also realized the benefits that come from leveraging new technologies. The aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic indicated that some processes didn’t require in-person meetings or physical consultations from healthcare professionals.

Video conferencing tools allowed medical institutions to provide virtual healthcare by adopting TeleMed solutions for their patients. Similarly, these technologies helped students to continue studying and remain productive while practicing social distancing.

Benefits available to organizations and individuals from virtual meetings include:

● Reduces travel to and from a given location

● Minimizes waiting periods in areas that could elevate the risk

● Provides increased comfort to patients, customers, and pupils

● Cuts down on costs for the individual and organization

Using virtual solutions wherever possible is also essential to prevent the spread of the virus that scientists are only starting to understand. Considering the dangers of the COVID-19 virus, organizations and healthcare facilities will need to do everything in their power to maintain social distancing for as long as possible.

The dangers posed by the COVID-19 virus are:

● A highly contagious virus that can spread from one to 2.5 people on average

● It can spread while the infected person remains asymptomatic.

● One in five infected people requires hospitalization while it has a 2% mortality rate due to the virus or associated complications.

● Slowing the spread of the virus prevents healthcare institutions from being overwhelmed.

Virtual Healthcare and TeleMed Applications

Visiting doctors via an app on a phone or handheld device was a fringe idea just a few years ago. Today, it’s become a standard practice to avoid social interaction and reduce the spread of the coronavirus through populations. TeleMed (or telehealth) applications help patients to schedule visits with physicians using remote conferencing tools and to reduce the risk of infection from in-person consultations.

More doctors now use virtual meetings to screen patients, helping them save on Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and limit exposure to high-risk environments. Tele-Medicine was already on the rise in the industry as a way to provide a more efficient healthcare solution. However, since the pandemic, TeleMed has become essential to almost every facility around the world. Using video conferencing tools, physicians can conduct patient consultations for many symptoms before scheduling a physical visit (only if required). Patients can even receive physical therapy using virtual healthcare solutions.

Best Practices for Virtual Healthcare

It’s better to use a dedicated app when providing healthcare consultations during virtual meetings. As information shared between the participants of the session qualifies as medical records (or Personally-Identifying Information), all communications remain subject to legislation and regulations. Apps dedicated to healthcare consultations will remain compliant with applicable laws.

For patients, it’s essential to find a quiet space with adequate light before starting the consultation. They should also ensure they charge (or plug-in) their device before the session, use earphones if possible, and have a flashlight available in case the physician needs to take a closer look. It’s also advisable to have a list of medications, any supplements they are currently taking, and a record of their medical history available.

Leverage New Technologies to Improve Virtual Healthcare at Your Facility

Adopting new technologies and processes requires experts to help implement these solutions. Blue Technologies can provide Managed IT Services to help organizations deliver virtual healthcare solutions to their patients. We have a team of technology professionals that can help any institution leverage the latest technologies and improve their processes while enforcing social distancing and helping reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

For more information about how Managed IT Services from Blue Technologies can help improve your virtual healthcare processes, reach out to one of our agents today