Guide to An Efficient Remote Workforce During The COVID-19 Pandemic

 

It’s a new year, yet 2020 continues to haunt us. The deadly coronavirus known as COVID-19 created a global pandemic that the world is still struggling to cope with. Public places have become proxies for the spread of the virus so is the hospitals and healthcare facilities. People just don’t feel safe anymore, neither do physicians and doctors.

While the COVID-19 vaccine is still in its initial stage, businesses and clinics are reconsidering their policies to ensure the safety of their working staff. Medical practices are navigating the technological spectrum to create a safe, secure, and effective remote workforce. Although the process isn’t easy, we’ve highlighted few key points for checks and balances that ensure secure communication, efficient staff productivity during these unpredictable times.

Update Roles for On-Site/Remote Employees

By now many organizations have a clear understanding of their staff. During these times, companies are evaluating their employees to determine which of them is required to be present on-site. This process can be done by asking yourself if an employee is on the call with a patient. Does it matter where the call is taking or how the company data drive is accessed? If ‘no’, then that employee is your remote staff.

However, if an employee is going to work from home, they must have accurate expectations. In order to do that, protocols for remote working have to be documented. These protocols should be clear about what you expect from your employees. Obviously, the employees’ current job rules should be included but they require an updated job description and role.

Manage Expectations from Staff and Management

Ensure your employees, working remotely, stay briefed on the business and protocols. Since every remote worker will be balancing work and their home life as well as other personal matters, session recaps provide employees a chance to catch up when or if they can’t come to a live meeting or briefing.

To ease such issues, follow these guidelines.

  • Use communication software such as Cliq or Slack whenever possible to ensure team collaboration.
  • Set up a system for project tracking to ensure completion of tasks within the deadline.
  • Provide accessibility of IT support for all remote workers.
  • Develop a newsletter or checkpoint call so that the team can stay posted on the progression of projects or upcoming goals set by the practice.
  • Host group meetings online for weekly discussion so that team members stay connected.
  • Online forums allow a way to share information, swap notes, or collaborate for future projects.

Remote workers need to set a separate space at home for patient calls or group meetings to ensure zero interruptions. Once a clear agenda is set, you’ll start to notice the improvement in productivity.

The Right Use of Tech

Once remote candidates are confirmed, there should be strict protocols are to be followed by equipping workers with secure devices and networks to continue work from home. Evaluating new technology and protocol is to allow remote work is critical. Practices are to be prepared on providing remote equipment, devices, accessibility, and guidelines to ensure HIPAA laws are not violated. Telehealth, patient billing and scheduling are a vital part of your remote plan, so may need to start evaluating the right software or hardware. Productivity suites such as Microsoft Office365 and Google G Suite, provide local content document management.

Protect Patient Data at All Cost

Lastly, secure access and data protection are vital for any medical practice. You need to take measures to ensure the safety of data while communicating and interacting with patients. Working with a secure EHR, HIPAA compliant service such as MediFusion is a good move.

In Conclusion

The need to create a remote working environment is about protecting the health of both patients and staff, minimizing any outbreak or spread of the deadly virus. This goes without saying but ending the threat of COVID-19 is important. Finally, working from home does have its own set of problems such as stress. This is why it is important to eat, exercise, and take some downtime away from the computer screen to maintain mental well-being and ensure more productivity working from home.


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