Question 1:
I realized various benefits of video conferencing in the medicine field by reading the given case study. Video conferencing is one of the greatest opportunities to the patients, especially those who demand for immediate treatments. Although the case is about stroke patients, however, the technology is in general very easy and speedy to facilitate the patients with care. The hospitals will become able to communicate with the experts and specialists to provide the healthcare service to the patients. The source of the diagnosis would not be much of care to me if I had confidence in the competency of the source. I would have both positive and negative feelings about video conferencing for my medical treatment as a patient. If I would have been struggling with some threatening and serious disease and illness then I would need to get quick and immediate treatment of experts and specialists. In this case, the technology of video conferencing would be the most advantageous because it is one of the fastest technologies to cure the disease and treat the illness with the help of consultation of specialists and expert physicians.
However, I would definitely expect the involvement of the local specialist to diagnose my disease. For my safety, advocacy and checking, the consultancy and engagement of the local specialist would be very important in my expectations. I expect that a specialist would be more capable and significant to detect and diagnose my disease from the symptoms and communicate with the remote experts rather than an intern or practitioners.
If I would be a patient, I would definitely concern about getting the necessary information required to diagnose the illness that is not accurately getting by the experts at a distance as the information could be unique in my illness case as compared to other patients. The general hospitals are already being criticized for providing unfriendly, impersonal and distant care to the patients. The remote technology and video conferencing will add nothing to these concerns and criticisms. I would also be concerned about the unnecessary charges to my health insurance for the additional services and consultation in agreement of the remote experts and local specialists.
Question 2:
Although the case study discussed the medical and education profession in the context of the use of the video conferencing and IT technology, however, there can be many other professions that can benefit from these technologies and applications. Some of these professions include the following:
Politics and its campaigns
Engineering profession
Auditing profession in the international corporations
Mergers and acquisition of the companies and workers
Human resources profession
Entertainment industry
Proposal 1
Though the implementation of video conferencing can be significant. However, the high quality service of conferencing might cause distractions and can be a costly project in the implementation. For this reasons, the providers can approach to the technology of creating the network of centers for video conference, so that the users might benefit from getting the high quality service. With these centers, the users would only be required to exchange with the nearest video conference centre. Cisco is one of these types of the network system of video conferencing that is just a beginning or initiative of such systems (Froom, Sivasubramanian & Frahim, 2010).
Proposal 2
The travelling cost could be one of the major reasons and causes of why the global business corporations might adopt the video conferencing technology. It means that they can reduce the cost of travelling and reach to the locations and places that are inconvenient to travel frequently (Earon, 2014). The video conferencing would be very significant for the business to connect its global employees with each other without making them move from their places. It means that these technologies can be considered as the transporter facility or space.
Question 3:
Even if, the information technology is deploying in the healthcare field, however, it is still in the state of immaturity. The uses of the technology discussed in the case study are limited; still, there is room for the improvements in the quality of healthcare with the use of technologies. The other uses can include the following:
Improvements in efficiency of the workers
Easy prediction of medical trends through databases
The development of new treatments and machines for easy treatments
Technology as the source of information
Alternatives
3D printing: The use of 3D printing technology to improve the quality of healthcare is widely discussed and researched. It can be used to produce 3D organs such as human body cells, skin, body organs, tissues of organs, etc (Honigman, 2013).
Wearing technology to Interact with patients: The doctors and specialists across the healthcare industry have already started to use wearing technology that is very significant to improve the interaction of the doctors with the patients and their families. It is one of the best alternatives of video conferencing as it allows the doctors to communicate with patients from the distance (Honigman, 2013).
Hybrid technology: The hybrid technology is one of the best alternatives to use of technology given in the case study. It is one of the most advanced technologies within the medical healthcare that is still in infancy but can improve the healthcare quality and the quality of delivering care to the patients (Honigman, 2013).
References
Earon, S. A. (2014). The Real Business Benefits of Video Conferencing. Retrieved June 23, 2016, from https://www.lifesize.com/~/media/Documents/Related%20Resources/White%20Papers/The%20Real%20Business%20Benefits%20of%20Video%20Conferencing.ashx
Froom, R., Sivasubramanian, B., & Frahim, E. (2010). Implementing Cisco IP Switched Networks (SWITCH) Foundation Learning Guide: Foundation Learning for SWITCH 642-813. Cisco Press.
Honigman, B. (2013). The 7 Biggest Innovations in Health Care Technology in 2014. Retrieved June 23, 2016, from https://getreferralmd.com/2013/11/health-care-technology-innovations-2013-infographic/
