Since the 1960’s, videoconferencing has taken slow but steady steps to become what it is today. Earlier solutions were only affordable to deep pocketed corporations.
As time went by, videoconferencing evolved all round, including price, size and features. This has led to adoption of video conferencing technology in startups in healthcare industries.
Healthcare’s dynamic nature and changing requirements of health providers has seen video conferencing emerge as the popular form of communication.
Although video conferencing has been around for a couple of decades, it is only now that the healthcare system is feeling the benefits. Providers are now moving from hardware-based videoconferencing to service and software-based solutions.
Cloud-based Blue Jeans online screen sharing allows providers to collaborate seamlessly without having to worry about infrastructure and hardware costs. In fact, more and more hospitals are now opting for cost-effective services that can be managed outside their premises, and cloud-based video conferencing is their first stop. Why is this so?
The remote workplace
With businesses becoming more dispersed, a communication solution should allow healthcare teams in various locations to collaborate, meet, exchange documents and files, and find solutions together. The idea is to create a means of collaboration that makes participants feel like they are in the same room.
This helps remoter medical specialists to truly participate in a conversation. With cloud videoconferencing, care providers get the full benefits of face-to-face communication at a fraction of the costs associated with in-person consultations.
Even while miles away, healthcare workers can instantaneously view images of their patients, get test results and even communicate directly with those administering medication at a patient’s location, all through services like Blue Jeans online screen sharing.
Cloud-based video conferencing helps reduce the amount of travel and carbon footprint associated with travel, and with helping the hospital meet its environmental objectives.
The hospital can also eliminate the need to transfer patients requiring specialized ongoing care. Video conferencing inevitably also improves the treatment delivery as doctors in another location can communicate with the primary caregiver and make clinical consultations and diagnoses with patients.
A cost effective collaborative environment
Cloud based solutions dramatically reduce the cost of operations, and video conferencing is no exception. Healthcare facilities do not have to grapple with the frustration and costs of supporting hardware and infrastructure maintenance, cloud-based video conferencing makes online collaboration more effective and affordable to everyone.
Enterprise mobility
Improved technology and better infrastructure will see the mobile workforce increase dramatically in the coming years – by about a third of the total global workforce. With mobile technology penetrating deeper into the business sphere, it will inevitably cause more healthcare providers to adopt cloud-based video conferencing to collaborate from just about anywhere, any time.
Increased productivity
Video conferencing eliminates the need to dive into copious amounts of files and using traditional forms of communication every time you have to find something you discussed in the past.
It also helps prevent misdiagnoses and miscommunication, saving time and improving patient outcomes. In addition, it has been established that video conferencing does help improve productivity in the business world.
Cloud-based video conferencing also helps train new employees in large groups and across diverse locations. This is especially when a hospital wants to address common issues like compliance, hospital policies or benefits. It also allows presentation of new information from a single location to multiple others in a single session.
Improved education
Video conferencing has also help medical professionals having trouble finding travel time to undertake courses, from their offices, that continue their education. Doctors are now taking advantage of this type of connection to continue their education courses to keep skills sharp and certification updated.
Show case: video conferencing and pediatrics
Cloud-based video conferencing systems are used for more than just remote monitoring. For example, if a baby is born in a remote hospital across the country, the local pediatrician can scan the infant’s heart and transmit it to a pediatric cardiology center, miles away via video conference.
This gives the specialists a chance to provide their expert opinions on the scanned images and help make accurate diagnoses. Both teams examine the scans in real time as they go through other symptoms just like they would in a meeting room.
For children dealing with heart problems, this technological development is very important because a diagnosis made in the first 24 to 48 hours is critical.
Those who require urgent help are taken to the cardiology center much earlier and those who do not need to travel have the diagnoses eliminated early. There is no doubt that this has saved numerous lives.
Justifying a hospital’s investment in a video conferencing system is easy since the returns are felt across the board. Video conferencing helps connect to the right people for necessary information when required, no matter where they are or what devices they are using. This helps get information to the proper personnel faster, while cutting down on wasted time and travel money.