nursing essay topics

nursing essay topics

Exploring the Impact of Technology on Nursing Practice

1. Introduction to the Integration of Technology in Nursing

Today, the physical place where care is taking place can be a remote care site or the patient’s home. This technology-facilitated nursing creates the need for new strategies to assess and continue to monitor patient status reliably and appropriately. The infrastructure required to sustain these strategies and unique advices for remote “present” patient care in non-patient care settings are described. Nurses will be guided by these advices and examples at care sites or be the care recipient’s actual site to provide the care required. This article discusses some of the latest care technology advances that are beginning to change nursing practice and wherein nursing involvement is essential. They consider whether nurse researchers should continue developing technology innovations for nursing practice, what tools and resources are available, and some of the considerations, benefits, and limitations that need to be based on mediative nursing care technologies.

Despite continued changes in healthcare practices, society continues to promote the importance of nursing and medical care providers. Technology seeks to expand the scope of care to support growth and access to quality care. Nursing practices constantly evolve to ensure they address the immediate needs of their patients. Technology integration has become a key step in recipient care of individualized patient care. Nurses actively participate in the creation of novel technologies documenting requirements, ensuring usability, and testing it in situ practice with patients. Mediated nursing care has increasingly integrated technology to meet its evolving care needs.

2. Benefits and Challenges of Technology in Nursing Practice

Explore the impact of technology on nursing practice. Although the history of nursing informatics may be short, the impact of technology on nursing has been enormous. One of the key benefits of technology in nursing is the ability to safeguard and raise the quality of patient care. Not only do computers and associated technologies automate the previously tedious task of record-keeping, but automated systems have also noticeably reduced the opportunities for errors. However, despite the proliferation of technology in many nursing facilities, many challenges still exist when implementing various technology systems.

Technology has invaded our everyday lives with robot-directed production in the automotive, aerospace, and electronics industries. Telecommunication systems that deliver our electronic mail have replaced the U.S. Postal Service. Computer systems that were once as large as buildings, such as the supercomputer, have been downsized to fit on a desktop. In the area of medical technology, invasive open surgical procedures are being replaced with minimally invasive surgery by using computers, image-guidance, and specialized equipment. Computer technology is also interfacing with clinics via telemedicine. Additionally, technology has advanced in simulation equipment with virtual reality and haptics to instruct surgeons and other medical personnel.

3. Ethical and Legal Considerations in the Use of Technology in Nursing

Since professional nurses should at all times use their professional judgment as the basis for any professional actions that they take, the use of technology in nursing practice needs to respect not only the code of ethics but also patient law. With the use of technology in nursing practice, come ethical commitments to human/moral obligations, technical norms, and nursing standards. It is fundamental for nurse educators to respond to the health industry demands for workforce training in technology competencies by addressing the ethical and legal concerns early in their professional curricula. Students who use technology in nursing practice should understand the consequences of their actions to protect the welfare of their patients and the impact their use of technology on their professional capabilities. Ethical and legal considerations for proper use of information and information systems used by nurses and nursing students in healthcare settings are summarized in this chapter. Although the text focuses on appropriate use of technology, nurses and nursing students will also need to adhere to the standards of their employer as well as the applicable codes of ethics for their professional nursing associations. The student or nurse who does not adhere to the proper code of ethics or standards which govern their use of technology, for example, systems misuse, illegally accessing patient information, altering patient records, making false clinical notes, will be subject to disciplinary action as defined by the administrative and judicial code of conduct policies of nursing and healthcare institutions and/or services.

Technology is not only transforming, but also expanding the responsibilities of the professional nurse in today’s complex healthcare environment. Computers and telecommunications technology are increasingly integrated into all nursing practice settings, necessitating the restructuring of professional nursing curricula. The adoption of health informatics has been slow in nursing because of a lack of nursing leadership and professional standards associated with the use of technology initiatives. Nurses in practice have reported their reluctance with the use of these technologies due to the risks associated with information security, privacy, and liability if misinformation is presented to end users. Worldwide Nursing Councils, such as the Congress of Nursing Practice in Canada, continue to stress the importance of the use of technology in the delivery of nursing care and the necessity for all nurses to meet the minimum informatics competences in practice.

4. Future Trends and Innovations in Nursing Technology

Most predictions about the role of HIT in healthcare stress changes that have already begun to occur. These well-documented trends, such as the ever-rising cost of healthcare, changes in the healthcare delivery system, and deployment of advanced technologies in both institutional and home settings, form the basis of concerns that have informed the development of several policy recommendations. The nursing profession increasingly strives to assist individuals in managing their wellness as well as caring for them when injury or disease have occurred. Future innovative health care necessitates that nurses break down traditional practice barriers and work outside of traditional settings. Health care should primarily occur in the home and community, with the hospital and other medical environments being reserved for those in need of high acuity, minimal care environments. Advances in telecommunications and remote sensing systems increase the capacity and will have improved nursing knowledge, prolonged distance support, and proactively monitor patient status. Thus, through e-health (or m-health), nurses can become anywhere health care professionals.

For the purposes of this chapter, we will look ahead to future trends in technology and highlight potential areas of difficulty and recommendations for usage by nurses in the clinical area. Although many of the discussed strengths and weaknesses of technology in nursing practice remain relevant in any area of healthcare, discussion emphasizes KSA from a nursing perspective. Nursing informatics cannot deliver comprehensive or self-evident solutions. Nursing informaticians should present KSA constructs in the form of a leisurely cascade of education and application progress. It must become the method of choice with increasingly sophisticated skill development on a continuum that is defined and incorporated into education, practice, and research.