How doctors act to digital transformation of healthcare amid Covid-19?

COVID 19 pandemic brings many changes including social distancing and lockdown situations. In this circumstance, the healthcare industry modifies its service by adopting digitalization in the patient treatment process. This transformation aims to avoid physical contact between patients and healthcare providers.

The number of patients with COVID 19 increases day by day. Clinics and hospitals are full of COVID patients. Experts said digitalization in the healthcare industry is the only solution to handle the huge number of patients to fulfill the limitations in the healthcare industry including a limited number of doctors and other healthcare staff, inadequate bed, and other necessary equipment in hospitals.

Doctors provide virtual care consultation and able to consult more patients in a day. Digitalization increases its capacity to handle an increasing number of caseloads than the past. Already much additional healthcare service station arrangement has been possible via telehealth facility.

The interactive app has the facility of audio-video service through which patients can reach their clinician remotely and similarly clinicians can evaluate the patient’s condition as well as provide treatment advice. This digital transformation ensures that patients have access to their doctors or other healthcare staff remaining safely at their home.

In primary healthcare setup, digital consultation can help a maximum number of patients without increasing the risk to the doctors. Many Western countries have already expanded digital platform in the field of healthcare for shifting from face to face consultation to remote consultation with doctors. Doctors are taking part in a digital-outpatient appointment.

However, digital transformation cannot completely take over the situation in every country, as many preparations still pending. Doctors and other healthcare staff need proper training to ensure that they have essential skill sets require for digital working. The increasing demand for IT infrastructure requires to fulfill for supporting the requirements necessary to solve the difficulties of doctors, which they face during working in digital consultation. for example, unable to get access to a virtual private network, which is essential to take the clinical appointment for serving the patient, or alteration of digital platform block the mail inbox, etc.

The journey of digital transformation in the healthcare industry has already started with innovative application of promising digital technologies such as voice-interface methods through Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, Google Voice device or apps or mobile sensors like smart-watches, oxygen monitors, or thermometers. However, still, the crisis of healthcare facilities is a challenge for the whole world to combat COVID-19.

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