Assignment: Implementing a Telemedicine

IMPLEMENTING A TELEMEDICINE SOLUTION Major themes: system acquisition; use of emerging technologies Background Information Grand Hospital is
located in a somewhat rural area of a Midwestern state. It is a 209-bed, community, not-for-proï¬​t entity offering a broad range of inpatient and
outpatient services. Employing approximately 1,600 individuals (1,250 full-time equivalent personnel), and having a medical staff of more than 225
practitioners, Grand has an annual operating budget that exceeds $130 million, possesses net assets of more than $150 million, and is one of only a small
number of organizations in this market with an A credit rating from Moodyâ​s, Standard & Poorâ​s, and Fitch Ratings. Operating in a remarkably
competitive market (there are roughly 100 hospitals within seventy-ï¬​ve minutes driving time of Grand), the organization is one of the few in the
regionâ​proprietary or not-for-proï¬​tâ​that have consistently realized positive operating margins. Grand attends on an annual basis to the health care
needs of more than 11,000 inpatients and 160,000 outpatients, addressing more than 36 percent of its primary service areaâ​s consumption of hospital
services. In expansion mode and currently in the midst of $57 million in construction and renovation projects, the hospital is struggling to recruit
physicians, both to meet the health care needs of the expanding population of the service area and to succeed retiring physicians. Grand has been an
early adopter of health care information systems and currently employs a proprietary health care information system that provides (among other
components) ï​§ Patient registration and revenue management ï​§ Electronic medical records with computerized physician order entry ï​§ Imaging via a
PACS ï​§ Laboratory management ï​§ Pharmacy management Information Systems Challenge Since 1995, Grand Hospital has transitioned from being an
institution that consistently received many more inquiries than could be accommodated concerning physician practice opportunities, to a hospital at which
the average age of the medical staff has increased by eight years. There is a widespread perception among physicians that because of such factors as

high malpractice insurance costs, an absence of substantive tort reform, and the comparatively unfavorable rates of reimbursement being paid physician
specialists by the regionâ​s major health insurer, this region constitutes a â​physician unfriendlyâ​ venue in which to establish a practice. Consequently, a
need exists for Grand to investigate and evaluate creative approaches to enhancing its physician coverage for certain specialty services. These potential
approaches include the effective implementation of information technology solutions. The ï¬​ndings and conclusions of a medical staff development plan,
which has been endorsed and accepted by Grandâ​s medical executive committee and board of trustees, have indicated that because of needs and
circumstances speciï¬​c to the institution, the ï¬​rst areas of medical practice on which Grand should focus in approaching this challenge are radiology,
behavioral health crisis intervention services, and intensives physician services. In the area of radiology, Grand needs qualiï¬​ed and appropriately
credentialed radiologists available to interpret studies 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Similarly, it needs qualiï¬​ed and appropriately credentialed
psychiatrists available on a 24/7 basis to assess whether behavioral health patients who present in the hospitalâ​s emergency room are a danger to
themselves or to others, as deï¬​ned by state statute, and whether these patients should be released or committed against their will for further

Assignment: Implementing a Telemedicine

Assignment: Implementing a Telemedicine

Assignment: Implementing a Telemedicine
assessment on an inpatient basis. Finally, inasmuch as Grand is a community hospital that relies on its voluntary medical staff to attend to the needs of
patients admitted by staff members such as some ED personnel, it also needs to have intensivist physicians available around the clock to assist in
assessing and treating patients during times when members of the voluntary attending staff are not present within or immediately available to the
intensive care unit. The leadership at Grand Hospital is investigating the potential application of telemedicine technologies to address the organizationâ​s
need for enhanced physician coverage in radiology, behavioral health, and critical care medicine. Discussion Questions 1. What are the ways in which
Grandâ​s early adoption of other health care information system technologies might affect its adoption of telemedicine solutions? 2. What do you see as

the most likely barriers to the success of telemedicine in the areas of radiology, behavioral health, and intensive care? Which of these areas do you think
would be the easiest to transition into telemedicine? Which would be the hardest? Why? 3. If you were charged by Grand to bring telemedicine to the
facility within eighteen months, what are the ï¬​rst steps you would take? Whom would you involve in the planning process? Defend your response. â​¢ A
minimally acceptable response length for each question is 350 words

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

 

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.