After the Virtual Services Scramble, A Rush of Evaluations

Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Holly R. Cherniwchan

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the demand for end-of-life services and bereavement support, and in many areas of the world, in-person palliative care is struggling to meet these needs. Local infection control measures result in limited visitation rights in hospital and patients are often dying alone. For many years, virtual platforms have been used as a validated alternative to in-person consults for outpatient and home-based palliative care; however, the feasibility and acceptability of a virtual inpatient equivalent is less studied. Virtual inpatient palliative care may offer a unique opportunity for patients to have meaningful interactions with their care team and family while isolated in hospital or in hospice. This narrative review examines strategies employed during the COVID-19 pandemic to implement virtual palliative care services in the inpatient setting. Five key themes were identified in the literature between January 2020-March 2021 in the LitCovid NCBI database: 1) overall acceptability of virtual inpatient palliative care during the pandemic, 2) important logistical considerations when developing a virtual inpatient palliative care platform, 3) commonly used technologies for delivering virtual services, 4) strategies for harnessing human resources to meet increased patient volume, and 5) challenges of virtual inpatient palliative care implementation. Upon review, telepalliative care can meet the increased demand for safe and accessible inpatient palliative care during a pandemic; however, in some circumstances in-person services should still be considered. The decision for which patients receive what format of care—in-person or virtual—should be decided on a case-by-case basis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa D. Hawke ◽  
Natasha Y. Sheikhan ◽  
Karen MacCon ◽  
Joanna Henderson

Abstract Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, youth mental health and substance use services rapidly moved to virtual modalities to meet social distancing requirements. It is important to understand youth attitudes toward and experience of virtual services. Objective This study examined the attitudes toward and experiences of virtual mental health and substance use services among youth drawn from clinical and non-clinical samples. Method Four hundred nine youth completed a survey including questions about their attitudes toward and experience of virtual services. The survey included quantitative and open-ended questions on virtual care, as well as a mental health and substance use screener. Results The majority of youth with mental health or substance use challenges would be willing to consider individual virtual services, but fewer would consider group virtual services. However, many have not received virtual services. Youth are interested in accessing a wide variety of virtual services and other supportive wellness services. Advantages and disadvantages of virtual services are discussed, including accessibility benefits and technological barriers. Discussion As youth mental health and substance use services have rapidly gone virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is essential that we hear the perspectives of youth to promote service utilization among those in need. Diverse, accessible, technologically stable virtual services are required to meet the needs of different youth, possibly with in-person options for some youth. Future research, engaging youth in the research process, is needed to evaluate the efficacy of virtual services to plan for the sustainability of some virtual service gains beyond the pandemic period.


10.28945/3331 ◽  
2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Malachowski

The phenomenal success and popularity of a new Polish social networking portal Nasza-klasa.pl (Our Class) is discussed. Essentials information on the portal, its functions and usability features are presented, together with an overview of technological platform employed. Statistical data is provided where appropriate to illustrate the phenomenon under study. The study attempts to provide a model method for success in the e-market and inspiration for prospective entrepreneurs in the world of virtual services.


Author(s):  
Joan K. Lippincott

Content owned or licensed by academic libraries, such as electronic journals, art image databases, and digital videos, provides a means to enhance curricula and allow for deeper learning by students. Lack of interoperability between library systems and course management systems (CMS) limits the use of library content within CMS. Learning environments, CMS, and institutional repositories must all interoperate since content can be used in many ways in both research and learning. Librarians can also add value to CMS if their virtual services — such as reference and information literacy — are integrated into the CMS. The content of CMS raises many policy issues which must be addressed by institutions.


Author(s):  
Siddhartha Duggirala

The essence of Cloud computing is moving out the processing from the local systems to remote systems. Cloud is an umbrella of physical/virtual services/resources easily accessible over the internet. With more companies adopting cloud either fully through public cloud or Hybrid model, the challenges in maintaining a cloud capable infrastructure is also increasing. About 42% of CTOs say that security is their main concern for moving into cloud. Another problem which is mainly problem with infrastructure is the connectivity issue. The datacenter could be considered as the backbone of cloud computing architecture. As the processing power and storage capabilities of the end devices like mobile phones, routers, sensor hubs improve we can increasing leverage these resources to improve your quality and reliability of services.


Author(s):  
Siddhartha Duggirala

The essence of cloud computing is moving out the processing from the local systems to remote systems. Cloud is an umbrella of physical/virtual services/resources easily accessible over the internet. With more companies adopting cloud either fully through public cloud or hybrid model, the challenges in maintaining a cloud capable infrastructure is also increasing. About 42% of CTOs say that security is their main concern for moving into cloud. Another problem, which is mainly problem with infrastructure, is the connectivity issue. The datacenter could be considered as the backbone of cloud computing architecture. Handling this new generation of requirements of volume, variety, and velocity in IoT data requires us to evaluate the tools and technologies. As the processing power and storage capabilities of the end devices like mobile phones, routers, sensor hubs improve, we can increase leverage these resources to improve your quality and reliability of services. Applications of fog computing is as diverse as IoT and cloud computing itself. What IoT and fog computing have in common is to monitor and analyse real-time data from network connected things and acting on them. Machine-to-machine coordination or human-machine interaction can be a part of this action. This chapter explores fog computing and virtualization.


Fog Computing ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 208-219
Author(s):  
Siddhartha Duggirala

The essence of Cloud computing is moving out the processing from the local systems to remote systems. Cloud is an umbrella of physical/virtual services/resources easily accessible over the internet. With more companies adopting cloud either fully through public cloud or Hybrid model, the challenges in maintaining a cloud capable infrastructure is also increasing. About 42% of CTOs say that security is their main concern for moving into cloud. Another problem which is mainly problem with infrastructure is the connectivity issue. The datacenter could be considered as the backbone of cloud computing architecture. As the processing power and storage capabilities of the end devices like mobile phones, routers, sensor hubs improve we can increasing leverage these resources to improve your quality and reliability of services.


2010 ◽  
pp. 1943-1958
Author(s):  
Christine H. Barthold ◽  
John G. McNutt

As the Internet becomes increasingly more and more ingrained in our society, the gap between those who have adequate Web access and those who do not will continue to widen. In the health, mental health, and disability sectors of society, technology helps provide access to previously unavailable information, communication, and services, allowing for greater independence, as well as 24/7 access to collaboration and support. The digital divide might prevent the people who will benefit the most from virtual services from accessing them. This chapter will explore systems of online health and mental healthcare, both formal and informal, the dependence on advanced networking technologies for these systems to be effective, and the impact of the digital divide on individuals’ access to online health and mental healthcare. We will discuss the implications for both policy and practice.


Author(s):  
Rosaleen Hegarty ◽  
Tom Lunney ◽  
Kevin Curran ◽  
Maurice Mulvenna

A changing computing landscape is expected to sense the physical world yet remain concealed within its very infrastructure to provide virtual services which are discreetly networked, omnipresent yet non-intrusive. Ambient Information Systems (AIS), permit a mode of expression that can easily exist at the level of subconscious realisation. This research focuses on the development of an Ambient Communication Experience (ACE) system. ACE is a synchronisation framework to provide co-ordinated connectivity across various environmentally distributed devices via sensor data discovery. The intention is to facilitate location-independent and application-responsive screening for the user, leading to the concept of technologically integrated spaces. The aim is to deliver contextual information without the need for direct user manipulation, and engagement at the level of peripheral perception.


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