New ways of working

5 tips on how to get started with your virtual clinic

Anna-Lena Kärrstrand

<span id="hs_cos_wrapper_name" class="hs_cos_wrapper hs_cos_wrapper_meta_field hs_cos_wrapper_type_text" style="" data-hs-cos-general-type="meta_field" data-hs-cos-type="text" >5 tips on how to get started with your virtual clinic</span>

Getting started with digital healthcare involves change and adaptability, which can be challenging and stressful. So what do healthcare providers need to get past it and get started? The most important step is to dare to try it out and catch up on the momentum, even if everything is not exactly as you pictured it on the day of conception. Combine perseverance with planning and structure and you’ll see that it doesn’t have to be this difficult.

Below we have listed the first steps to get you started with your virtual clinic, based on our experience and close collaboration with our customers.

1. Identify why you want to work with digital healthcare

The first question you should ask yourself before you start planning your new business is why do you want to offer online consultations. Do you want to reach out to more patients? Do you want to increase accessibility? Do you want to give the patients more influence? Which point is most important? The answers will prove to be very helpful in your planning.

2. Start on a small scale

Having a strategic plan for digital transformation is important, especially when it comes to choosing a system or planning out your resources, but start on a small scale – test, evaluate, adjust and build on previous experience. Otherwise, you may risk ending up with a project that is way too large, which can hinder your launch. To begin with, select 1 to 4 operations of your business and a number of people per selected operation who should initially offer a digital service, e.g. video consultations.

Would you like to know more about what to consider before getting started with your virtual clinic?
Read our guide Get started with your virtual clinic.

3. Set specific targets for your project

To be able to measure progress, you need to set specific targets, regarding the number of video consultations, for example. Specify the number of video consultations you want to provide within a given time period and what feedback you want to receive from the patients in evaluating the online consultation.

You will also benefit from defining what it will take for you to reach your goal. How will you make your target group aware of this new service? Will you need to build a market plan to reach out to patients so that they can learn about your digital healthcare consultations? What kind of training does your staff need? Who should be responsible for which part of the plan? It is of utmost importance that the responsible person has the mandate to organise the business side of the work.

4. Be patient

It takes time for new processes and working methods to become organic parts of an operation, for both internal and external users. However, it is important to not give up. Keep working with the new technology so that, you keep up with a good speed. The world is moving fast and a lot of people today expect to have the option to contact their healthcare provider online.

5. Evaluate

Spend half an hour every week to evaluate and reflect on both positive and negative experiences from your virtual clinic. Ask yourselves the following questions::

  • How many online consultations have we performed this week?
  • What new experience have we gained in online consultations?
  • What can we do to carry out more consultations online?
  • How do the patients experience the online consultation?

Allocating time to evaluate the business and to identify what works and what doesn’t is of immense importance in order to develop the initiative further. It is important to be prepared that perhaps not everything will be exactly as you intended it to be during the planning phase, but it’s a critical part of the learning process. You can use all the experience you have accumulated, finetune your future operations, and scale up with more confidence

Visiba Group AB
Adolf Edelsvärds Gata 11 Göteborg, 414 51
Phone: 0761993666