NURS FPX 6214 Assessment 2 Stakeholder Meeting

Identification of Key Stakeholders 

The key participants of the meeting on teletherapy technology acquisition are healthcare professionals, nurses, IT personnel, patients, administrative, legal, and finance staff. Healthcare professionals utilize teletherapy technology to provide the best care services to patients and boost patient outcomes. Moreover, nurses conduct one-to-one meetings with the patients to track the progress of the patient’s health status (Wendel et al., 2022). As technology is the mainstay of delivering teletherapy, IT specialists play a key role in assisting the people associated with it. 

Finance personnel develops insights about the profitability of utilizing teletherapy that help them make the correct decision regarding buying and implementing the teletherapy technology. They develop a budget plan according to the organization’s needs and help enhance the performance (Snoswell et al., 2020).  Lastly, administrative and legal staff take great care of privacy and confidentiality laws under HIPAA to protect patient privacy while utilizing teletherapy technology. The participation of the stakeholders in the meeting is vital to provide strategic direction and decision-making regarding the effective use of teletherapy technology to boost patient health outcomes (Theodos & Sittig, 2020).

NURS FPX 6214 Assessment 2 Stakeholder Meeting

The healthcare professionals and IT experts comprehend the healthcare needs of patients and inform the project manager about them. The project manager allocates the material and financial resources to boost the successful execution of the teletherapy technology (Ransdell et al., 2021). The project manager has a great influence on achieving success. They overlook the project’s progression and implement the necessary changes according to the needs. 

The telehealth providers and IT staff train the medical personnel on the best usage of teletherapy technology. It facilitates the staff’s compliance with teletherapy and boosts patient health outcomes (Valentine et al., 2021). IT staff and teletherapy providers offer educational training and technical assistance to the medical staff to help them achieve desired outcomes.

Knowledge Gaps

Stakeholder identification is a necessary step, but limited knowledge about teletherapy technology hinders determining the roles of different stakeholders. Without the appropriate understanding, it is difficult to identify relevant stakeholders. Moreover, teletherapy technology is evolving, and novel approaches are being used, so limited awareness of these resources also hampers assessing the capabilities of stakeholders.

Drafting Meeting Agenda

The meeting agenda is to unfold the teletherapy technology’s positive effects on patient health outcomes. The technology utilizes evidence-based communication tools to address the patient’s needs and provide effective counseling sessions eventually. The meeting aims to deeply understand the benefits and complications associated with teletherapy technology so that the adverse effects can be tackled (Siegel et al., 2021). The meeting will address the following aspects: 

• Significance of teletherapy technology
• Execution of the technology
• Training of the staff
• Resources management and budget Analysis
• Considering privacy issues, compliance with HIPAA

Assumptions

The underlying assumption is the engagement of all stakeholders in utilizing teletherapy technology. They play a vital role in care planning and use teletherapy technology to bring positive health outcomes. Another supposition is the belief that the proposed program will dramatically improve the outcomes for high-quality healthcare. 

Teletherapy Improving Patient Outcomes 

Teletherapy technology enhances health professionals’ capabilities to provide patient care services through digital tools. Teletherapy improves patient satisfaction and care standards, eventually enhancing the organization’s overall performance. Teletherapy augments the patient health outcomes in the following ways:

Access to Care Services

Teletherapy empowers patients to seek care services without any financial burden.  People with mobility and transportation issues can access care services in their homes and prevent their health conditions from worsening. Teletherapy facilitates people to seek care services by overcoming geographical barriers and helps in bringing positive health outcomes (Chu et al., 2022).

Immediate Care

Teletherapy technology facilitates healthcare professionals to track the patient’s health status remotely and deliver immediate care when needed. It supports them in recognizing the potential risk factors and modifying the treatment according to the patient’s condition. Quick planning of teletherapy sessions allows patients to receive care from a certified counselor without wasting time.

Decrease Employees Burnout 

The technology system reduces burnout among employees and lessens the overload on the professionals. Health practitioners address the healthcare needs without urgency and deliver the best care services that eventually enhance the patient’s health outcomes (Sampaio et al., 2021). Patient satisfaction in healthcare professionals boosts their morale and ultimately reduces burnout. 

Criteria to Evaluate Organization Effectiveness

Teletherapy technology boosts the organization’s performance as it aims to provide prompt care services to people. Moreover, it helps the professional utilize the technology and care for more people in less time. The criteria to assess the organization’s effectiveness are goal attainment, stakeholder satisfaction, adaptability toward change, and ethical considerations. 

NURS FPX 6214 Assessment 2 Stakeholder Meeting

The first criterion to assess the organization’s efficacy is the achievement of set goals and targets that brings more financial gain in the healthcare setting. A high rate of stakeholder satisfaction will depict that the organization is working efficiently and addressing the needs of patients and staff timely (Vaughan et al., 2022). Adaptability criterion measures how efficiently an organization uses material and human resources to accomplish its goals. Effective management of resources helps constructively use resources that bring productivity to the organization (Fowe, 2021).  An organization that upkeeps ethical standards is more likely to achieve stakeholders’ trust and protect itself from lawsuits and other legal cases. 

Outcome Measure to Appraise Technology Effectiveness

By the particular clinical consequences and the type of teletherapy being provided, an organization or patient care setting may use various outcome measures to determine the efficacy of teletherapy. However, some typical outcome performance indicators that may be utilized are as follows:

Clinical Assessment

It evaluates the changes in the patient’s symptoms over time after using teletherapy services. Numerous standardized assessment tools measure the patient’s health status according to their condition. For instance, a numeric pain rating scale is used to measure pain management, and Beck Depression Inventory can be utilized for depression (Park et al., 2020).

Patient Satisfaction

 The patient self-report measures comprise short surveys, feedback, and questionnaires to assess the level of satisfaction among patient satisfaction. They were informed about their perception of teletherapy services, the care quality they received with teletherapy, and the behavioral attitude of the healthcare professionals (Chen et al., 2022).

Cost Savings

Organizations compare the teletherapy expense with the traditional treatment protocol and evaluate the cost savings related to the teletherapy technology. It facilitates the organization to reduce the overall cost by reducing the in-person visits to the hospital (Snoswell et al., 2020).

According to the specific outcome measures used, the data gathered from teletherapy can disclose various information, such as reduction of symptoms, improving health status, and patient satisfaction. The data will inform the levels of satisfaction among people after receiving the teletherapy sessions (Chen et al., 2022). Organizations discover teletherapy effectiveness by interpreting data and can utilize it to make data-driven decisions to improve patient care. The data may additionally be utilized to highlight areas where teletherapy service delivery could be enhanced.

Quality of Existing Data

The quality of the existing data helps evaluate the success of teletherapy technology in the organization. The EHR system must be valid and authentic, which could help healthcare professionals to assess the data and make effective clinical decisions. Moreover, the precision and completeness of collecting data and methodological approaches for data analysis affect the quality of data obtained from teletherapy (Knapp et al., 2021). The existing data use valid measurement tools that provide accurate results about teletherapy technology. Moreover, the data collected to pinpoint areas for improvement facilitates the organization to modify changes where needed. The data provides great insights into making care decisions to boost an organization’s performance.

Addressing Patient Data Confidentiality Concerns 

Patient data confidentiality is a major concern while using teletherapy technology. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) established confidentiality and privacy rules to protect patient health information, so organizations are responsible for safeguarding patient data at any cost. The information security concern raised can be data breaches that threaten patient safety. During teletherapy sessions, sensitive information is shared, so it is vital to use a secure communication channel to protect the patient’s health data and other information (Seh et al., 2020). The potential risk of teletherapy technology data breaches includes patient health records, clinical notes, financial information, and other details. Data breaches threaten patient health and safety and reduce patient compliance with teletherapy. Non-compliance with the HIPAA guidelines also threatens patient privacy, so the organization must set rules and regulations to use these rules to avert data breaches (Vanderpool, 2019).

By following these guidelines, teletherapy providers can contribute to ensuring that patient data is kept private and secure and win over patients concerned about their data’s privacy. While also fulfilling the moral and legal requirements for patient data protection, this can help to improve patient engagement and treatment results.

NURS FPX 6214 Assessment 2 Stakeholder Meeting

Teletherapy provides enhanced safeguard standards that adhere to HIPAA guidelines. It can be utilized to manage the safety issues such as encryption, secure online platforms, and multifactor authentication. Data encryption ensures that all patient and healthcare provider communications are encrypted and cannot be accessed by unauthorized users (Shanmugapriya et al., 2019). Likewise, two-factor authentication requires users to give codes to access the teletherapy platform (da Fonseca et al., 2021). It prevents unauthorized access to the data and helps safeguard patient data. Moreover, regular security audits also tackle the vulnerabilities associated with teletherapy. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) established rules for the security of patient data, so healthcare professionals must show compliance with these rules to avert security and confidentiality issues (Vanderpool, 2019).

Knowledge Gaps and Missing Information

One potential knowledge gap is a lack of awareness of data protection laws governing healthcare information, such as HIPAA, in the US. The privacy of participants may be jeopardized if these regulations are not accompanied. Telehealth technology needs a strong security structure to safeguard patient health information. Furthermore, inadequate encryption techniques and insufficient data backups are examples of potential flaws. The stakeholders with limited knowledge about privacy guiding principles also unintentionally compromise patient privacy. So, it is the need of the hour to provide evidence-based knowledge to stakeholders to safeguard the patient’s health information.

Steps and Timeframe to Implement Teletherapy

The steps taken to implement the upgraded teletherapy technology are planning, assessment of technology infrastructure, policy development, testing, and implementation. The first phase is planning, which includes assessing current and existing resources. It also includes collaboration between the different stakeholders. The second step is an assessment that determines whether the existing technology infrastructure, such as the internet speed, audio and video devices, and operating system compatibility, meets the specifications for teletherapy. Consider upgrading or purchasing innovative hardware or software if innovative hardware or software is required (Mechanic et al., 2019). The next step is policy development relevant to teletherapy technology. The policies focus on patient informed consent, data privacy, and security to adhere to the HIPAA rules (Vanderpool, 2019). The last step is trial and implementation. The teletherapy technology trial/testing will be conducted to see the efficacy of teletherapy. Technology is fully implemented, including approval, installation, resources management, and staff training. 

Timeframe for Deployment

The estimated timeframe for the implementation of the project will be 2-3 months. The timeline has been estimated after considering the hospital’s resources and providers’ perceptions.

• Resources procurement, such as teletherapy-related applications and other software, will take two weeks.
• Training staff to use the teletherapy technology will take one month 
• Software testing will take one month to analyze the system’s proficiency in delivering care services  

NURS FPX 6214 Assessment 2 Stakeholder Meeting

The potential causes of delay are lack of funds, technical glitches, and resistance to change by the staff. Moreover, the lack of human resources also delays the process. The assumption of the timeframe is the training of the staff to use the teletherapy platform effectively (Greenwood et al., 2022). Moreover, resource management also needs time, so the timeframe is estimated according to it.

Conclusion

The teletherapy technology stakeholder meeting clarified the significance of identifying and conversing with all pertinent stakeholders, such as patients, healthcare professionals, nursing personnel, technology providers, and regulatory bodies. The meeting focused on discussing the key point of teletherapy implementation to boost patient health outcomes. The participants were informed about the effective use of teletherapy, its advantages and disadvantages, and privacy and security issues. The meeting concluded by integrating all key stakeholders in successfully implementing teletherapy to boost patient outcomes and organizational efficacy.

References

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