Assignment Sample on 7053SOH How Telemedicine Changes Healthcare Administration
1. Organization
PharmEasy is an online medicine shop that provides medicines to its customers at their doorsteps. It not only provides medicines as well as provides healthcare services as they say that everyone in the country has the right to stay healthy and fit. The medicines are sold at affordable prices in comparison to the traditional shops and there is a need to upload the authentic prescriptions. The products are delivered to their customers within the promised time and give genuine medicines.
1.1. Introduction
In this recent era, new technologies make it possible thus remote monitoring of the health conditions of patients can also be done with the help of telemedicine technology. Through the use of this technology healthcare providers can recognize health issues such as blood pressure, health rate, or oxygen levels in order to recommend immediate treatment. It can be significantly noted that early intervention through telemedicine facilities leads to better care and savings from high treatment costs.
1.2. Justification for a proposed change
In recent days convenience can be considered as the key of healthcare services which is the most important positive side of telemedicine. According to a Cisco global survey, 74% of the patients prefer easy access to healthcare services (Evisit.com, 2021). Generally, in order to have traditional healthcare, it is important to go to the healthcare providers. However, in this busy era, some patients do not get time to go to the doctor or some patients live in remote areas. These patients can access healthcare virtually leading to providing them virtual recommendations at the correct time. These benefits lead to a need for telemedicine to make healthcare better.
1.3. Detailed background
It has been found that with the help of telemedicine patients belonging to remote or rural areas can get more benefits as well as convenient access to the healthcare specialist. For example, almost 100,000 rural patients are there in the U.S, and a total of 43 healthcare specialists only available there (Evisit.com, 2021). These patients have been found to face trouble in getting access to the healthcare consultation for chronic or any specific health care plans.
The global market of telemedicine has been found to grow significantly in recent years as the global market was valued at 50 billion US dollars in 2019 and forecasted to grow almost 460 billion US dollars within 2030. However, the most recent and important driver of the telemedicine market can be considered as the Covid-19 pandemic situation (Statista.com, 2021). It has also been found that PharmEasy is working to make the world a better place by providing digital healthcare.
1.4. Importance of this topic
It has been found that there can be huge healthcare management problems in the traditional healthcare system. For example, most people can not access healthcare providers physically by having major businesses in their life. Telemedicine allows them the chance to have easy access for having rapid as well as immediate recommendations for the recovery of health issues. It has been found that in the US most people are not able to access healthcare organizations because they live in rural areas (Evisit.com, 2021). This can be considered as an international driver of implementing telemedicine in healthcare facilities. On the other hand, it has also been found that in the Covid-19 pandemic situation most of the people are unable to leave their house (Statista.com, 2021). In case of need for treatment, telemedicine facilities can be helpful. This can be said as the global driver that influences the implementation of telemedicine. Moreover, the growing cost of traditional healthcare can play a harmful role in decreasing preference for traditional healthcare and increasing preference for the current topic (Statista.com, 2021). This can be considered a strategic driver as telemedicine offers a cost that is lower than traditional, leading to the growing preference for it.
1.5. Ethics on this topic
There are several benefits in addressing the problem related to traditional healthcare facilities. In view of de Souza et al. (2017), especially in some complex cases such as neurological diseases, consultation has been found to be improved through the use of telemedicine. This facility also improved the treatment in the intensive care unit. Along with the benefits, there can be some benefits of not using telemedicine in the healthcare system. Such as in the Covid-19 pandemic situation this can be considered as the only way to provide consultation for health issues. As stated by Hong et al. (2019), a multimodal telemedicine network in western China has been immediately activated after the first outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. This research will provide clear benefits of using telemedicine facilities in healthcare organizations.
1.6. Cause and Effect analysis
The major cause of existing issues in healthcare facilities is not getting enough access to healthcare consultation. On the other hand, some technological issues such as many people cannot monitor their health-related problems so that they can go for a consultation. Moreover, some people cannot go to healthcare facilities to retain their health issues hidden from society (de Souza et al. 2017). These issues can be solved by implementing telemedicine facilities along with the following administrative management theories. The process of telemedicine can be more effective by providing control, plan as well as forecasting facilities in healthcare management.
1.7. PESTLE analysis
Political
Political factors have an elective role in enhancing the market of telemedicine. It has been found that the federal government is constantly functioning in the sector of telemedicine to bring it on the line worldwide (Hong et al. 2020). In this recent condition, it has been found that the Chinese government immediately applied telemedicine facilities with the first outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Economic
It has been found that the telemedicine industry is going through an unbalanced demand as well as supply chain economic problem in the sector (Triantafillou et al. 2021). Excess supply and low demand can be a cause of firms’ closure for reduced revenue as this industry faced an economic downturn from 1991 to 2007.
Social
In this case, social or governmental support to this industry is significant. The government in Taiwan is concerned about improving training in order to boost understanding of resources in the sector.
Technological
Technology can play an important role in this industry as having traditional or lower technologies can be harmful. For example, Taiwan does not have modern technologies in this sector leading to challenges.
Environmental
The telemedicine sector can be developed rapidly as there is no environmental impact of this process. On the other hand Countries with rural people such as the US can enhance this sector to be developed.
Legal
Lawful contracts and civil liberties need to be in concern in order to make this sector more effective (Hayward et al. 2019). However, telemedicine provides a high law value to the legal contracts that are helpful in growing this industry.
1.8. Significance
This study will signify the future research work with the information about telemedicine as well as the importance of having this in healthcare sectors. Moreover, the solution of health issues consultation can be considered as affordable and cost-effective. In addition, this research will also deliver a significant outcome in the healthcare industry.
1.9. Problem statement
The aim of this research is to recognize the changes in healthcare administration by implementing telemedicine facilities.
2. Implementation plan
2.1 Aims
Telemedicine has great importance in the medical administrative sector in India. This research aims to identify the importance of telemedicine changes in healthcare administration of PharmEasy company of Indian rural market.
2.2 Objective
This research paper will help to find out different problems and proposed solutions in the medical administrative sector of PharmEasy due to implementation of telemedicine in Indian rural market. Main objectives of this present research paper include.
Specific | Measurable | Achievable | Relevant | Timely |
Objective 1: To identify importance of telemedicine in different medical administrative sector of PharmEasy | ||||
Telehealth or telemedicine emerged as a necessity in times of Covid-19 as a component of healthcare addressing the key challenges of providing medicines in remote areas (Marasca et al. 2020). The remote concept helped in effectively fighting the outbreak by playing a major role in identifying, preventing, treating and controlling different diseases. | It will help to identify people with existing medical issues who were more susceptible to be affected by the outbreak. | Telehealth operations played an important role in the prevention of diseases in the elderly by enabling them to have access to their medications despite staying at home. | This objective will help to identify the importance of telemedicine in Indian rural communities. | 1 month |
Objective 2: To evaluate internal working technique of PharmEasy management to provide medical administrative services using telemedicine | ||||
Delivery of medicines have been affected by the rapid evolution of electronics, to fulfil the communication gap between the patients and doctors. However, despite catering for individuals for healthcare the factor of distance and the lockdown norms have affected the delivery of medication and tests ordered by a patient (Chowdhury et al. 2021). | Implementation of telemedicine as a care program to address patients remotely and covering multiple sites in a day has witnessed both positive and negative impacts.
|
PharmEasy is a leading online and offline medicine delivery company that works with different changes, situations and strategies as well. | This objective helps to identify what different strategy the company adopt to communicate with Indian rural people | 1 month |
Objective 3: To identify what problems PharmEasy company facing to provide services of telemedicine in Indian rural market | ||||
The barriers to the implementation of the program depended on the payment systems, accreditation as well as insurance (Shur et al. 2021). There were concerns regarding the technicality and quality of the system to assist with looking forward with safety, privacy and accountability. | Telemedicine is becoming a basic need for people to order medicines, tests and several others in real-time as a healthcare provider. | The Healthcare sector has not been affected by the outbreak of Coronavirus, rather it has benefited the sector in implementing better pieces of equipment and medications. | This objective helps to identify different problems faced by PharmEasy to communicate with rural communities of India by implementing telemedicine services. | 1 month |
Objective 4: To propose a solution for different risks faced by the company in order to provide telemedicine services in India | ||||
One of the major advantages of telemedicine is that it allows easy patient monitoring in comparison to the conventional methods used in the healthcare system (Escobar and Akel, 2017). Moreover, several strategies will help the company to adopt telemedicine in medical administrative services. | Methods of verifying and supervising medication and vitals have been made easy in a home-bound environment. | This has reduced the outpatient visits and helped in the controlling of the exposure of patients to the virus. | This objective helps to identify more possible recommendations that could improve business strategies of PharmEasy. | 1 month |
Table 1: SMART Objectives
2.3 Success criteria
PharmEasy strategy management team have upgraded their working schedule in such a manner that they are able to provide time for identifying the issues present in both the internal and external environment of PharmEasy. It has been noticed that the telemedicine firm has been working continuously on improving its performance to obtain a healthy position in the market (Nittari et al. 2020). It showed that customers are not uploading the ethical prescriptions on the PharmEasy sites at the time of ordering their medicines. Issues have been faced again on a basis as the Indian customers are found to be uploading inappropriate images of the prescription which are unreadable by the PharmEasy executives. Later the strict rules were made against it by not allowing them to upload inappropriate images of the prescription and are asked to try it again.
In addition, medicines are taken from the medicines shops that are licensed and are therefore delivered to the consumers within the expected time in order to stay loyal to their customers. The delivery persons are traced with the help of the tracker in order to eliminate the delay in delivering medicines at customers’ doorsteps (Szmuda et al. 2020). Moreover, It provides the opportunity to purchase medicines at much lower rates in comparison to the physical shops. It is counted to be not only cost-effective as well as time-saving as the customers can order the medicines at any time of the day at being present anywhere.
3. Theoretical Background Literature Review
3.1 Overview of the strategy
The main strategy used by PharmEasy in rural India is to establish healthy relations with the various stakeholders. As mentioned by Bakshi and Tandon (2019), the activities that are mainly focused on by the strategic management team of PharmEasy are increasing the standard of working by solving the challenges. Improving the internal working techniques along with keeping themselves updated about the competitive market. PharmEasy strategy management team has upgraded their working schedule in such a manner that they can provide time for identifying the issues present in both the internal and external environment of PharmEasy. It has been noticed that the telemedicine firm has been working continuously on improving its performance to obtain a healthy position in the market.
According to the view of PharmEasy, they believe that no play and only work does not provide appropriate stamina to the employees to perform their task effectively and thus their slogans are “Take it Easy, PharmEasy, right”. As stated by Mathur et al, (2017), in the case of marketing, social media is being used as it is counted to be one of the effective online tools to improve the business. It helps to increase the involvement of the customers by providing offers and discounts on medicines.
3.2 Critical appraisals
PharmEasy has been working as a helping hand for people who are not able to buy medicines from the traditional shops as they provide the facilities to deliver them on doorsteps. Despite helping in times of need PharmEasy has to face critical issues and are not able to transfer to sales. As per the view of Mahajan et al. (2020), the main reason behind it is the absence of the proper prescriptions. It has been noticed that customers are not uploading the ethical prescriptions on the PharmEasy sites at the time of ordering their medicines. Previous PharmEasy did not pay much attention to the necessity of uploading prescriptions as they trusted their customers and as a result, they had to face legal issues by providing medicines without any legal proof. It made them change their business plan by making that loyal customers more aware of the necessity of given prescriptions.
They thus allowed their customers to upload the proper prescription and choose the medicines accordingly. As urged by Ahmed and Sankar (2020), issues have been faced again on the basis as the Indian customers are found to be uploading inappropriate images of the prescription which are unreadable by the PharmEasy executives. Later the strict rules were made against it by not allowing them to upload inappropriate images of the prescription and are asked to try it again. The fakeness has been reduced to a noticeable rate due to such initiatives taken by PharmEasy in India.
Due to the presence of carelessness and increasing technological advancement PharmEasy is not able to make its appropriate position. According to the view of Li et al. (2020), technology plays an important role in the operations that are performed logistically. The medicines are taken from the medicines shops that are licensed and are therefore delivered to the consumers within the expected time to stay loyal to their customers. The delivery persons are traced with the help of the tracker to eliminate the delay in delivering medicines at customers’ doorsteps. According to the view of Ahmed and Sankar (2020), the competitive market of telemedicine is high and there are several e-pharmacies that provide attractive offers to the customers and are disadvantageous for PharmEasy. Keeping the competitor’s strategies in mind PharmEasy in India is seen to be providing offers on medicines that are mostly sold in India such as the diabetic medicines as they are more in number in comparison to other patients.
3.3 Strength and weakness of literature review
Strength of PharmEasy
With the increase in the utilization of smart devices in recent times PharmEasy has provided opportunities to its customers to get medicines by simply touching the smart devices. As mentioned by Links (2018), PharmEasy provides the opportunity to purchase medicines at much lower rates in comparison to physical shops. It is counted to be not only cost-effective as well as time-saving as the customers can order the medicines at any time of the day at being present anywhere. Being an online platform, digital transaction of money provides help to the customers to pay easily and they do not need to stand in a queue for a long period to obtain the necessary medicines. People dwelling in rural places of India get the maximum advantage as it provides them the chance to obtain both the doctors as well as the medicines which are not easily available. PharmEasy provides information not only regarding the medicines as well as the reason for consuming them along with their side effects if available.
Irrespective of age and occupation people of rural India can obtain emergency medicines in times of need along with discounts. According to Mondal et al. (2020), there is no need to travel to different pharmacies in search of rarely available medicines as PharmEasy is considered to be the ultimate solution to such issues arriving in India. As stated by Keshvardoost et al. (2021), along with the availability of all kinds of medicines the people can consult doctors on emergency cases in which the diagnosis can be done through digital platforms. Another advantage provided by PharmEasy is that it contains the previous record of purchased medicines as well as the reminders of rebuying the medicines.
Weakness of PharmEasy
The associated chambers of commerce of India (Assocham) stated that the intake of unnecessary drugs is noticed to be increasing in the national capital region (NCR). As stated by Bali (2018), one of the weaknesses of PharmEasy is that the delivery people are not well knowledgeable about the description of the medicines and are not able to help the customers according to their necessity. In the case of PharmEasy people of India are purchasing the medicines and cannot touch the medicines which are counted to be a drawback. In comparison to the traditional pharmacies, the pharmacists can clear the doubts of the purchaser which is not possible for PharmEasy.
The existing customers of PharmEasy in India are found to be acknowledging negative feedback for the company regarding the ill behavior of the delivery person. As depicted by Meher et al. (2017), there has been a notice of complaint regarding the less stock of medicines and high rate of the delivery charge which is not possible for all the people of India to pay. The return policy of PharmEasy is counted as a weakness as they are not able to satisfy the customers according to their demand.
3.4 Impact of Covid-19 on Telemedicine
The outbreak of coronavirus has affected different sectors adversely due to the social norms of lockdowns, social distancing and several others which have caused disruptions in logistics. The same has affected the transportation of medicines and healthcare supplements in the context of safety and prevention (Oyediran, Makinde and Adelakin, 2020 ). The telemedicine department has faced numerous issues due to the new normal of society as well as online frauds in abiding by the notion of providing healthcare to the needy. Telemedicine has strengthened people dwelling in rural places of India get the maximum advantage as it provides them with the chance to obtain both the doctors as well as the medicines which are not easily available.
Irrespective of the barrier of age and occupation, people of rural India are able to obtain medicines in times of need along with discounts. According to Mondal et al. (2020), the search for rarely available medicines can be done with PharmEasy and is considered to be the ultimate solution to such issues. Along with the availability of all kinds of medicines, people are able to consult the doctors on emergency cases and it contains the previous record of purchased medicines as well as gives reminders of repurchase of the medicines. Telehealth or telemedicine emerged as a necessity in times of Covid-19 as a component of healthcare addressing the key challenges of providing medicines in remote areas. The remote concept helped in effectively fighting the outbreak by playing a major role in identifying, preventing, treating and controlling different diseases. As analysed by Kulkarni (2018), people with existing medical issues were more susceptible to be affected by the outbreak.
Telehealth operations played an important role in the prevention of diseases in the elderly by enabling them to have access to their medications despite staying at home. However, the travel restrictions appointed and enforced were leveraged for essentials to provide daily care without risking others of the exposure (Miller et al. 2021). The advancement of providing healthcare at the doorstep was challenging as well while minimising the hazards of direct contact and improving the research of epidemiology. The approach as both patient and physician-centred to protect both as well as the others have been affected by the factor of distance and communication. As analysed by Sampat and Prabhakar (2017), the advancements while catering for the distanced variations, lack in providing privacy as well as security. The delivery of medicines has been affected by the rapid evolution of electronics, to fulfil the communication gap between the patients and doctors.
However, despite catering for individuals for healthcare the factor of distance and the lockdown norms have affected the delivery of medication and tests ordered by a patient. As per the views of Betancourt et al. (2020), the implementation of telemedicine as a care program to address patients remotely and covering multiple sites in a day has witnessed both positive and negative impacts. Online bookings have turned into frauds, only to gain a profitable advantage amidst the misery of the pandemic due to the lack of security in portals. The barriers to the implementation of the program depended on the payment systems, accreditation as well as insurance (Smrke et al. 2020). There were concerns regarding the technicality and quality of the system to assist with looking forward with safety, privacy and accountability. Telemedicine is becoming a basic need for people to order medicines, tests and several others in real-time as a healthcare provider.
The Healthcare sector has not been affected by the outbreak of Coronavirus, rather it has benefited the sector in implementing better pieces of equipment and medications. However, transportation and logistics have been affected due to the social norms of the virus outbreak comprising of lockdowns and social distancing (Miller et al. 2021). Yet, the delivery of medicines and is being done without any failure despite the weaknesses possessed by PharmEasy. The existing customers of PharmEasy in India have been found to be acknowledging negative feedback for the company regarding the ill behaviour of the delivery agent. It has been depicted of complaint regarding the less stock of medicines and high rate of the delivery charge. This is not possible for all the people of India to pay and the return policy of PharmEasy is counted as a weakness as they are not able to satisfy the customers. This has created a gap of trust between the customers and the providers of telemedicine.
3.5 Advantages of Telemedicine
The use of telemedicine as an approach in providing medical facilities to remote areas is patient as well as physician-centred. In providing for both the variables of the healthcare sector, the telemedicine approach has been implemented due to the following advantages.
Easy Patient Monitoring
One of the major advantages of telemedicine is that it allows easy patient monitoring in comparison to the conventional methods used in the healthcare system. As opinionated by Uscher-Pines et al. (2020), the method of verifying and supervising medication and vitals have been made easy in a home-bound environment. This has reduced the outpatient visits and helped in the controlling of the exposure of patients to the virus. Moreover, medical help is available without patients being uncomfortable while the doctors can maintain their convenience and commitment as well.
Allows better long-term care
Telemedicine has catered for the allowance of better and long-term care for patients making healthcare available for patients amidst post-disaster situations for consistent healthcare. As mentioned by Daggubatti et al. (2020), online visitation saves lives in emergency situations by not having to wait for an ambulance while the health service is just a call away. Emergency healthcare in remote situations is useful for inaccessible areas amid the modern innovations that have enabled easy information sharing and discussions. It has enabled patients to keep in touch with the doctors in times of distress and vice versa.
New means of communication
Modernisation and digitalisation of communication in the context of innovations in technological devices have deliberately catered for better communication between doctors and patients. As per the views of Piao, Terrault and Sarkar (2019), mobile collaborations have enabled information-sharing regarding critical situations from multiple locations. The facilitation of monitoring the patient with the help of a computer has helped in reducing the outpatient visit helping in decreasing the coronavirus exposure risk. A home-bound convenience has reduced the cost of hospital bills without hampering the supervisor’s work.
On-demand options
There are a number of options to choose from physicians and different doctors to consult. As mentioned by Lai and Tang (2020), a wide range of options to choose from according to the demand helps in tackling a variety of problems. As more doctors are willing to offer telemedicine at the convenience of both themselves and their patients, remote care has options for patients. This enables the patient to contact the regular doctor via a phone or a video call to continue with the medication process.
Access to specialists
Access to specialists is a tough job for patients to reach out to due to the high cost and time investment. The implementation of telemedicine has catered for the need for specialists in remote areas to gain access to primary care of expertise (Amir Hossein et al. 2020). This has enabled the access of expert care in remote areas with fewer challenges and better health without having to wait in a queue. The management of medications become easy with managed chronic conditions and helps to avoid exposure.
3.6 Issues in Telemedicine
Despite having numerous advantages, telemedicine has some issues and disadvantages as well. The issues in the advancement of catering for both patients and doctors can be identified as:
Reimbursement
Reimbursement for telemedicine services can act as a problem for doctors, physicians and other healthcare providers. As per the depictions made by Links (2018), limitations within the telemedicine reimbursement coverage regarding managing the costs persist within the healthcare system. The payment parity is a big challenge that has no guarantee between telemedicine and in-person healthcare due to no existence of apparatus for enforcement. This has defeated the point of telemedicine in reducing healthcare costs and expansion to the services of healthcare discouraging the providers as well. This discouragement keeps the providers from offering services without a guarantee of comparable payment.
Lack of integration of EHR
The lack in the integration of electronic health records disables the coordination with the platform used in providing telemedicine services that complicate the record of the workflow. As analysed by Pappalardo et al. (2021), the lack of integration in the workflow systems can complicate the records adhered to while in the system. This calls for the need of integrating the system to provide a better infrastructure to incorporate with the needs of the workflow.
Lack of sufficient data
The lack of data is correspondent to the ambiguity in the records in the electronic health record system workflow. The lack of data along with the lack of integrity between the recording workflow has complicated the situations of continuity of care for a patient (Munawar et al. 2017). Insufficient data can cause problems in the future healthcare telemedicine systems in terms of services created by different hospitals or service providers. This can create issues in the diagnosis of patients due to a lack of information about their previous medication and needed services.
Service awareness lack
The lack of awareness of services hampers the usage of telemedicine services. This lack leaves the service unattended, missing on an opportunity that could have benefitted the patient as well as the family (Emon et al. 2018). This has caused a gap between the services provided to people or those that could have been provided. The offering of these services when not used can create losses for services providers and healthcare centres which can be eliminated by better advertisements for creating awareness among people.
Expensive technology and lack of skill
The technology used in providing telemedicine in order to provide remote healthcare for people can be challenging if the employees lack the skills to handle the functionality. The cost of pieces of equipment, services and expenses are concerning and alarming while trying to reduce the expenses of a bundled service (Wernick and Klünker, 2019). The lack of knowledge to handle the equipment can hamper the accessibility of services while assessing and monitoring the patients. This can create havoc among patients while the diagnosis is being done, while proper knowledge regarding the subject can be reliable and can be used in assistance with a patient.
3.7 Ways of Recovery
The issues in the advancement of telemedicine to make it more reliable can be addressed in the following ways:
Reimbursement plans using technology
Centres for Medicare and Medicaid service (or CMS) is the coverage for the year 2019 as well as beyond that further include prolong prevention services as well as virtual check-ins. Furthermore, in context, it is necessary to overcome the obstacle of reimbursement with a well-executed plan that includes technology utilisation for or tracking all expenses that are claimed (Nittari et al. 2020). Moreover, it is required to build a platform that keeps the track of claim expenses for properly e-document recess along with keeping the date for allowing insurance reimbursement.
Established workflow to integrate EHR
Further, the utilisation of the platform for integrating Electronic Health Records (EHR), that helps in the establishment of flow war, as well as insurance, revisit for patients with properly documented along with updated future visits. The lack of an integration platform leads to an interruption in the continuity of care if a patient received telemedicine from a service provider and simultaneously chooses another provider for the next visit might cause confusion (Phillips et al. 2020). Furthermore, the second position might not have all the required information of the patient that is needed for the diagnosis of the patient’s problem. It is best suggested to receive telemedicine services from a previous physician that includes all the records created in the hospital along with medical facilities provided to the patient.
Content marketing
Approximately, 96% of employees planning to offer telemedicine service to all their employees is a missed opportunity where a patient is not aware of the service provided to them. Moreover, social media email newsletters platforms are the biggest blogs for or including all the patients and making them aware of the service. Further, lack of Technical skills results in the misunderstanding of the usage of telemedicine service that reduces utilisation as well as hampers accessibility. As analysed by Jun, Willing and Bramstedt (2021), catering for better advertisements promote the viability of telemedicine among people in remote areas.
Training the staff
Training the staff is one of the most important mitigation processes with the advent of digitalisation and modernisation of services. As analysed by Tarigan et al. (2018), it is best to teach and train the employees and staff to provide a better understanding of the usability of the pieces of equipment used. Skilled employees can help patients, as well as their family members in using the devices used for monitoring the patient, who require assistance. Training the staff can help with resource utilisation and save the equipment from being hampered with the wrong use of data.
Decreasing service costs for personal visits
Despite being a remote service, telemedicine can help patients cut down the costs of personal and emergency meetings with the doctor or consultant. As per the views of Wernick and Klünker (2019), the advancement of telemedicine has helped in reducing the expenses of bundled services to cater for the fulfilment of the needful. As telemedicine grows with a flat fee offering, the prices of consultation will decrease while providing security to the data provided by the user. The cost of services such as medical practices that are the concerns of physicians has been brought down at a huge rate saving 25% of the cost of the emergency staff.
3.8 Summary
This section of the study has emphasised the theoretical background of telemedicine in providing remote healthcare services to the needful. The study has found the main strategy of PharmEasy is establishing healthy relationships with various stakeholders where activities are focused on the strategic management team. Furthermore, as the study is conducted further, it is depicted that the strategic management team has found the strengths of telemedicine. The company is strengthened by the advent of digitalisation via smart devices which enable the patients to be considerate of one touch. This study caters to find the strengths and weaknesses in Pharm Easy with the opportunity to providing healthcare at the doorstep.
However, there have been disadvantages persisting in the existing ways of providing healthcare. These issues have been discussed to find reliability in telemedicine to reduce the risk of exposure to coronavirus and other diseases possessed by people. The study discusses the advantages and disadvantages possessed by the advancement of telemedicine in offering services for people in remote places. The mitigation of the issues has been provided as well to efficiently provide services to the needful. The above theoretical explanation of the literature has catered for both usefulness and the limitations of the advancement of telemedicine.
4. Implementation plan
4.1. Implementation plan
There are several benefits of implementing telemedicine in the health care sectors such as it helps in enhancing or improving the operations related to health care consultation. However, along with the strength and opportunities, there are some weaknesses in telemedicine facilities.
Strength
- The increasing occurrence of lifestyle diseases, as well as the evaluations of applications for telecommunication and IT technology, can be considered as the major drivers to the market development (Bagot et al. 2020).
- Telemedicine facilities in healthcare industries can be used for several purposes such as doctors can forward medical history as well as diagnostic images to the telemedicine.
Weakness
- Lack of awareness among the patients and their acceptance can create major issues in implementing this (Ben-Pazi et al. 2018).
- Lack of professionals who can use equipment related to telemedicine facilities at their full capacity.
Opportunity
- The huge increase in the global market of telemedicine as well as the current global situation of the Covid-19 pandemic can be influential to implement telemedicine.
- It helps in minimizing the costs of traditional healthcare facilities.
Threat
- Inadequate infrastructure in order to implement the process of telemedicine.
- High cost of telemedicine solutions that includes equipment, transportation, training, and many more.
Project implementation
Project initiation: In order to initiate the project of implementing telemedicine it is important to define the project among the team so that they can be able to relate their benefits with this project (Barbu and Sandu, 2020). On the other hand, the project charter needs to be completed in order to initiate this project in a proper way.
Planning: In this stage budgeting for the project and work breakdown need to be done to generate a proper plan. On the other hand, a communication plan, as well as a risk management matrix, need to be done in order to proceed with the project properly.
Execution: In the execution stage of implementation this project tracking the need for improvement in the performance of the employees need to be done. In addition, KPI, as well as the quality of their work, need to be monitored, leading to forecast the proper compliance of his project.
Control: In this phase of management monitoring the fulfillment of project objectives, as well as effort and cost tracking, need to be done. The following can be helpful in measuring employee performances so that steps can be taken for their improvement.
Closure: In this stage, all the project activities, as well as the fulfillment of the objectives, are monitored properly.
4.2. Team building
In order to build a team for the implementation of this project theory of Belbin’s team role will be followed. A team can be divided into three major roles such as action-oriented roles, thought-oriented roles as well as people-oriented roles.
Action-oriented roles
Shaper: People who help in shaping the improvement in the team need to be dynamic as well as extroverted people (Ngetich and Gakuu, 2019). People who welcome challenges as an exciting thing will be pointed as the shape of this project.
Implementer: The implementer of this project generally will deal with the compliance of the project. People who are disciplined or conservative and do their work in a systematic and efficient way will be recognized as implementers.
Finisher: Finisher mainly deals with project compliance by ensuring that there are no omissions or errors in the project.
People-oriented roles
Coordinator: The project coordinator will help in guiding teams in a proper way by playing a role as a traditional team leader.
Team worker: Most of the people related to this project will be selected as team workers. They will generally help in supporting the project by working together in an effective way.
Resource investigator: People who seem as innovative as well as curious will be selected as the resource investigator. They will help in gathering information on the topic to enhance project compliance.
Thought oriented roles
Plant: People who have innovative as well as new ideas in order to improve the operations of telemedicine will be selected as the plant of this project.
Evaluator: Evaluator will generally help in analyzing the ideas related to the implementation of this project. In addition, these people will also analyze the pros as well as cons of the project.
Specialist: People who have enough knowledge of the process, as well as the benefits of telemedicine, will be selected as the specialist in this project.
4.3 Stakeholder analysis
Stakeholder analysis is a process by which a particular company manager could identify different stakeholder activities within a company. As stated by Harting et al. (2019), stakeholder analysis helps company hierarchy to gather information about the strength of different stakeholders. According to Stakeholder theory, every organisation needs to measure the strength and weakness of different stakeholders of the organisation both internal and external stakeholders the company. Stakeholder analysis map of PharmEasy showed;
High
Power
Low |
Keep Satisfied
● Business sponsored ● Employee ● Customers and medical representative |
Manage Closely
● Medicine company partner ● Company employee ● Managers and ● Hospital partners |
Monitor (Minimum effort)
● Creditor ● Product supplier ● Medicine manufacturer ● Competitors |
Keep Informed
● Media or advertising partner ● Country government ● Local market authorities |
|
Low-Interest High |
Table 2: Stakeholder analysis map of PharmEasy
(Source: MS Word)
A stakeholder analysis of PharmEasy company showed, being a medical representative company, it needs to maintain all health and hygiene guidelines in order to improve patient health. At the same time, it showed the company’s need to inform the country government about the importance of telemedicine for Indian rural community. At the same time, the company management needs to satisfy their business sponsors and their employees as they provide 24-hour services to their customers.
Figure 1: Concept of stakeholder theory
(Source: Harting et al. 2019)
Hence, stakeholder analysis map and compare to stakeholder theory it could be concluded as in order to work a business plan or project company managers need to satisfy their stakeholder first. In case of PharmEasy the company needs to monitor their competitors as in India, there are many similar companies who are working on the same project for Indian rural community.
4.4 Communication strategy
In order to have traditional healthcare, it is important to go to the healthcare providers. However, in this busy era, some patients do not get time to go to the doctor or some patients live in remote areas. Being an online platform, digital transaction of money provides help to the customers to pay easily. Therefore an effective and proper communication between customers and company employees help customers to grow trust in the company. According to the Adaptive structure theory of group communication, every organisation needs to adopt advanced technologies that should emerge in human actions. As stated by de Souza et al. (2017), proper communication leaves all parties or stakeholders involved satisfied and feeling accomplished. Along with the availability of all kinds of medicines, people are able to consult the doctors on emergency cases in which the diagnosis can be done through digital platforms.
In addition, proper communication helps PharmEasy to attract more customers by understanding their needs properly. Medicines being a necessary and important part of human life were not compromised and were sent to the peoples’ address (Khoong et al. 2020). Moreover, there are still some issues that are yet to be solved in a short span of time to make a healthy position in the competitive market. Hence, a proper and effective communication cloud improves the business strategy of PharmEasy to identify the importance of telemedicines in the Indian rural community.
4.5. Change management
In order to implement the change in the healthcare sector, it is important to convey the vision of this change among the employees. The following can be helpful in managing change as most of the employees are resistant to the change. In that case, most of the health workers can feel insecure with their jobs by implementing new technologies related to telemedicine (Ngetich and Gakuu, 2019). Therefore, making employees understand the benefits of this change can be influential to the implementation of this project. On the other hand, providing training among the employees by communicating with them in an effective way can be helpful in change management. In addition, monitoring the employees with their performances can also be helpful in implementing this change. The following processes can be fruitful in managing change in the healthcare sector by implementing the process of telemedicine.
4.6. Risk management and mitigation
Risk name | Description | Impact | Probability | Mitigation action | Mitigation strategy |
Resistant | The most important risk in implementing any technological advancement can be considered as resistant to change (Ngetich and Gakuu, 2019). Some employees can feel insecure about their job as they are not familiar with these changes. | High | 2 | Immediate | There is a need for proper communication so that employees can be able to understand the benefits related to the change for their organization as well as for them. |
Training | Training can be considered as high risk as without trained health workers the process of providing telemedicine can be wrong (Ngetich and Gakuu, 2019). Along with this, training of health workers was also needed in order to make them able to use the technologically advanced equipment properly. | High | 2 | Immediate | Employee training programs need to be arranged in order to make the employee knowledgeable to use advanced equipment. |
Cost | The cost of the equipment related to telemedicine facilities can be higher. However, demand can be lower than the investments in this industry. This can create a major risk that needs to be mitigated in a proper way. | High | 2 | Immediate | A proper budget plan in order to implement this project needs to be done as well as managing costs for the resources also need to be in concern. |
Diagnostic error | This can be said as a low risk of implementing this project (Ngetich and Gakuu, 2019). If employees are not well trained then an error in diagnosing the health issues can happen. | Low | 0 | Can be mitigated later | Proper training about the equipment related to telemedicine needs to be given. Moreover, monitoring the employee performances need to be done in order to improve the diagnostic process. |
Table 3: Risk management matrix
5. Financial cost
PharmEasy strategy management team have upgraded their working schedule in such a manner that they are able to provide time for identifying the issues present in both the internal and external environment of PharmEasy. As stated by Karyagina and Sitdikova (2019), every business project needs a proper cost management structure that helps the company to stand strong financially in the competitive market. The cost structure of this present business project about telemedicine showed;
Factors | Estimated cost structure(%) |
Staff salary | 30% |
Training cost | 5% |
Maintenance cost | 10% |
Types of equipment cost | 10% |
Key Resource maintenance | 20% |
Partnership development | 25% |
Table 4: Estimated financial cost of pharmacy for telemedicine project
(Source: Created by a researcher)
In the case of marketing, social media is being used as it is counted to be one of the effective online tools to improve the business. Moreover, the company needs to invest more in partnership development with hospitals and medical representatives as well. This key resource helps the company to attract more customers to the company product (Ben-Pazi et al. 2018). Apart from that, the company needs to invest money in employee training and equipment costs that help the company to improve customer experience and trust towards the company.
6. Evaluation Plan – evaluating success
One of the important assets of the proposal is the evaluation plan as it helps to perform all the tasks of the project in a better manner. As mentioned by Bakshi and Tandon (2019), in the valuation plan there is mention of the activities performed by all the stakeholders. The evaluation plan consists of five stages as follows:
- Clarification of the goals and objectives of the project
The goals and objectives of the project are needed to be clarified properly to obtain a view of the project. As stated by Mathur et al. (2017), goals are needed to be set to obtain the purpose of doing the project whereas the objectives are used to declare what is needed to be gained through the project. Goals are being identified at different phases of the project.
- Evolving the questions of evaluation
The evaluation questions describe the issues that have been faced by PharmEasy in India during the Covid-19 pandemic period. The questions evolved from the aims and objectives that have been mentioned in the first section. The issues that have been faced by PharmEasy are recent as well as precious terms are mentioned along with the mitigation techniques. The questions include the way the data are to be collected and what is to be collected. There are declarations of the palace and the time the data are to be gathered for the welfare of the project.
- Evolving the methods of evaluation
The third stage of the evaluation plan is evolving the methods of evaluation which depicts the way the proposal is being performed. As per the view of Links (2018), a description of different monitoring control processes is being mentioned in the study. The different method in which the data is collected for the knowledge of the project has been mentioned along with its analytical techniques. There are portrayals of the information that will be gathered as well as the time and places they have been obtained.
- Developing timeline of the actions of evaluation
- Reporting the progress report of the procedures and other methods related to the stakeholders
The last section of the study describes the progress report that is needed to be submitted by all the stakeholders such as the suppliers and retailers to PharmEasy. The main function of the progress report is to prove to the shareholders that the activities are being performed as well as the project going on without facing any obstacles (Mahajan et al. 2020). It provides the clarification that the project will be completed within the provided deadlines. The recipients of the process report will be assured about the performance of the company and can provide suggestions in case of need. The issues that have given the rise in the project can be discussed among the shareholders to solve it. It provides a clear view of what has been performed and what is needed to be performed and explains the working efficiencies.
7. Mainstreaming project
It can be said that this research proposal can be beneficial for PharmEasy, as it provides a clear and detailed idea of telemedicine. In the case of mitigating project aims or objectives, it can be considered that the theoretical review part as well as the overall discussed rationale of the selected topic helps in understanding the importance of telemedicine in this era. On the other hand, the changes in the health care sector especially after implementing telemedicine can be reflected in this proposal. It has been found that most people cannot go to the doctor for their health issues for different types of reasons. Some of them are less bothered as well as some of them are not having time to diagnose their health issues in their busy schedule. The following proposal highlighted these things in order to make people or health workers understand the need for telemedicine in this era (Ngetich and Gakuu, 2019). In addition, especially in this current pandemic situation, it can be said that telemedicine or online health consultation is the most effective or needed practice to provide consultation for recovery. On the other hand, this research proposal also has an account of implementation and evaluation plan so that future researchers or health sectors can easily implement this technology. However, it can be said that researchers in this research have succeeded to mitigate the objective or aim of this research.
8. Reflexivity
Gibbs Reflective cycle
I am using Gibbs’s reflective model in the following proposal to provide my view regarding the knowledge that I have gained from the proposal. The model consists of six steps which will provide me the advantage to recall the experiences that I have gained throughout as well as what I have performed and should have done to make it a better proposal. The six steps of the Gibbs reflective model are as follows:
Description
The healthcare administration is noticed to be gaining profit from telemedicine organizations namely PharmEasy in India. As urged by Pradeepa et al. (2019), the proposal is based on the following topic and the survey is being performed in India during the pandemic period. Information is collected regarding the services of PharmEasy during the Covid-19period as people were not able to step out of their house. Medicines being a necessary and important part of human life were not compromised and were sent to the people’s address. I wanted to figure out the effectiveness of telemedicine in India and am eager to find out the comparison between the online and physical pharmacy services or serve it in India in a better way.
Feelings
During the collection of the data about PharmEasy services in rural areas, I noticed that they have been able to overcome many critical issues. As depicted by Nath et al. (2020), there are still some issues that are yet to be solved in a short period to make a healthy position in the competitive market. I had a different perspective regarding PharmEasy as I was a customer as I started gaining knowledge about the strategies used by them my point of view changed. I have now been able to know about the different logistic operations and other operations being performed by PharmEasy. It has provided me with the knowledge of the reason behind the restrictions being made by PharmEasy and its positive and negative effects. During the pandemic situations, PharmEasy worked as a helping hand which provided help to the individuals accordingly. In the post-pandemic situation, people are noticed to be using PharmEasy in India more than visiting physical shops as it gives them more advantages.
Evaluation
I have gathered both the good as well as the bad experience which has provided me the capability to recommend the necessary steps that are to be taken for PharmEasy. As per the view of Patel et al. (2021), the good experience is PharmEasy has been trying hard to help them satisfy the people and reach them in the best possible ways. One of the worst experiences is the employees of PharmEasy are not well trained regarding the medicines as well as the technical skills are low. They are of ill behavior and at the last moment, the appointment was canceled, and was not informed to me. Different cultures were noticed to be working peacefully in PharmEasy, were busy with their task, and were not able to answer all the questions.
Analysis
As per my view, things went well as I was able to organize all the plans of the proposal properly and systematically. Due to me, PharmEasy will not have to suffer any kind of issues as I have performed all the tasks ethically. I did not get much time to complete all my questions which can be considered to be incomplete. From the current situation, I can sense that if PharmEasy can resolve all the challenges it can obtain the best position in the telemedicine sector of India. According to Moirangthem et al. (2017), PharmEasy needs to improve the quality of the employees
Conclusion
From the situation, I learned that medicines have both the capability to take away as well as provide life to human beings in case of single mistakes. The importance of prescriptions for companies like PharmEasy has been well understood by me. As mentioned by Thakar et al. (2018), the customers who are using the following applications need to be more patient and aware regarding the order of the medicines and uploading the prescriptions as it is related to their health. The situation could have been more positive if the delivery charge needed to be decreased as there is a presence of the maximum number of the middle class in India. The situation has provided me the lesson that being a citizen of India I need to have minimum knowledge regarding the need of consuming medicines such that I could help others.
Action plan
I have been able to gain huge knowledge regarding the working strategy of PharmEasy which will furnish me the advantage to perform the present task in a better and different way. As per the view of Dhir et al. (2017), the surveys can be done in a better way and the structure of the questions will be different and more to the point. As I have now become informative and have boosted my learning skills I will be able to perform the task more efficiently. This is considered to be my first time gaining experience in a particular field. Being more informative, I can act differently the next time.
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