Covid and ISO Health Informatics Experience & Telehealth Services
Resources and policies will decide the future direction of telehealth during the COVID-19 epidemic. Flinders University carried out a study of health professionals to assess their experiences with telehealth in COVID-19. Telehealth services were encouraged in Australia in the early days of the epidemic. This allows doctors and health professionals to communicate over the telephone or on the internet with patients. This was done to reduce the chance of transmission of communicable disease. This particular service is useful for remote and rural areas where there isn't an easy access to medical services.
Flinders University researchers, including Professor Paul Ward and Dr HailayAbrha Geosesew, as well as Professor Anthony Maeder, Prof Hailay Abrha Gemew Professor Hailay Abrha Gsesew, and Professor Alan Taylor, surveyed 91 health professionals to evaluate their experiences with telehealth in the context of the pandemic. According to the experts, positives include legalization for telehealth services as a means of service, more trust in the service as well as improved human and financial capabilities.
"While many clinicians believe that the switch to Telehealth has been forced by the pandemic," Dr Alan Taylor of Flinders University. He is also a member and the lead writer of the Australian Telehealth Society Committee.
Dr Taylor declared that it's difficult to know if telehealth can be sustained following the pandemic. The future funding of telehealth services is also a concern due to the complex combination of clinical and policy procedures. Dr. Alan Taylor led a project which developed an international standard in Telehealth services. International Standards Organization Health Informatics Committee issued a new ISO International Organization for Standardization Standard. These were the ISO 13131.2021 Health Informatics - Telehealth services Guidelines for Quality Planning. See the ISO 13131:2021 Health informatics -- Telehealth services -- Quality planning guidelines doc here.
Dr Taylor stated that international standards are an important part of world trade in goods, services, and with the increasing use of telehealth services, it is crucial to maintain the quality of telehealth services subject to ISO/TR 11633-2:2021 Health informatics-Information security management for remote maintenance of medical devices and medical information systems. These guidelines are extremely useful to healthcare providers, such as primary physicians who wish to utilize risk management methods in order to set quality goals and develop methods to run telehealth services. Check more ISO/TR 11633-2:2021 Health informatics -- Information security management for remote maintenance of medical devices and medical information systems info.
The standard comprises:
Quality management in Telehealth
Management of both strategic and operational processes in accordance with the law, knowledge and the best practices.
Healthcare processes that concern individuals, including plans, activities related to healthcare and the responsibilities.
Management of financial resources
Information security and management
The processes involved in the procurement and management of human resources, infrastructure, and facilities, in addition to technology resources