Question

Flo Tech, the health information manager at Upstate University Medical Center, faces a critical challenge in moving her department into the twenty-first century of health care services. A new telemedicine program has been developed so that rural hospitals can use university specialists as consultants without the patient being transferred. The system transmits digital signals over a wide-band fiberoptic network, permitting synchronized data and image interactivity. The “record” that results from the interchange includes both a videotape of the interaction between the medical consultant and the on-site health care provider and relevant clinical information extracted from the patient’s electronic medical record. The chief executive officer has asked the health information manager to determine how many additional full-time equivalent (FTE) staff, if any, are to manage these records.

Questions:

1.Identify the type of information needed to determine how this new technology will affect current staffing patterns in the department.

2. To use in recruiting and retraining, list the skills, knowledge, and other job specifications needed in the staff that will maintain these types of records.

3. Evaluate the above.

If financial or other constraints preclude adding new staff at this time, what steps should be taken to handle the additional workload?

Answer 1

1. As it's the use of advanced technology like telemedicine ,it needs staffs who are well qualified in information technology and has good computer operating skills . To know how many staffs would be needed for this purspose first we need to analyse how many telemedicine cases occur in a week then calculate appropriately for a month . Secondly , analyse how much data is there to be recorded in EHR . Thirdly , count the number of staffs and who are delegated what duties .

2. For recruitment and retraining purpose ,the skills , knowledge ,and other job specifications needed in a staff are :-

- Computer skills

- Typing speed

- Knowledge about information technology

- Knowledge of ethical norms while using information technology

- Responsibility to maintain software and health records

3. If financial and other constraints prevail in additing new staff then I would handle the situation by delegation of the same duty to the staffs who are less loaded like those who have straight duties , inventory duty etc so that the patient care is not hindered .