Maintaining Human Experience in a New Era of Virtual Connection

This paper is grounded in firsthand accounts from organizations and patients and family members who highlight the cause and effect of virtual solutions in medical environments. Participants illustrate the necessity of virtual connection during the COVID-19 crisis in order to maintain the human experience in healthcare. The virtual connections explored in the paper include the transition to solutions such as telehealth, virtual patient check-in, virtual visits with families, virtual rounding and adaptations to palliative care. Specific examples are provided from individual’s experiences as well as the challenges encountered in making these technology-enabled changes to healthcare practices. Furthermore, the paper depicts how many of these transitions, born from the current healthcare crisis, will be ongoing, changing the nature of human connection in healthcare permanently