What Are the Advantages of the Virtual Team Described in the Case?

Question 2:- What are the advantages of the virtual team described in the case?

Answer- This case highlights the advances in Information technologies and systems that could potentially transform the existing setup of treatment. With the use of virtual tools the interaction between a doctor and his patient would no more be a drab affair where the patient is resigned to listening and trying to understand and memorize the prescribed treatment. The biggest advantage of the virtual teams discussed in the case is improved patient care through the use of latest information systems. The patient would no longer just have information that is pertinent to his case; furthermore he is not just dependent on the opinion of just one doctor. Instead the patient would have access to a large pool of information, where he can compare and be informed about similar situations and treatments, survival rates of current treatment regime, potential breakthrough in his area of ailment. Given the complexity of the medical field and treatments and routine, the patient in most cases is not in a position to make an informed decision nor is he able to weigh the benefits of other options that are available to him. He has to blindly trust the doctor who is handling his case, regardless of the fact that the doctor is doing the best in his capacity, there is always a benefit in getting a second opinion from other doctors. With the facility of using a virtual team of doctors to discuss his case, which is not necessarily in the same room or even in the same geographical area, the patient is spared the trouble of trying to personally visit and consult other specialist doctors.

The system of virtual team is equally advantageous to doctors who are handling important patient cases as complex as cancer or other life threatening ailments. In the current scheme of things a doctor most often prescribes treatments which he is familiar of, or is comfortable recommending,