Patient Education Technology

Posted by Melda Research on May 17th, 2019

Identify patient care technologies, information systems, and communication devices that support safe nursing practice.

Introduction of new technologies in healthcare sectors helps in improving healthcare efficiency, quality, safety, and cost. Patient care technologies that have the high significance in the nursing range from relatively simple devices which include catheters and syringes, to highly sophisticated and complex devices which include barcode medication administration systems and electronic health records. The purpose of this paper is to discuss equipment and devices that healthcare sector should use in delivering quality healthcare services to patients. The purpose of the research paper is providing a conceptual model for various technologies that healthcare sector is likely to use in promoting their effective and efficient quality of healthcare. Electronic Healthcare Records (HER) technologies, information systems, and communication devices help in recording patient's medications and allergies, automatically checking for problems when a new medication is prescribed as well as alerting the clinician concerning potential conflicts (Wyatt, & Krauskopf, 2012). Data and information gathered by a primary care provider are stored in an HER. Information systems tell a clinician in the emergency department about a patient's life-threatening allergy, and emergency staff can adjust care appropriately, even if the patient is unconscious. Many modern computerized systems can expose potential safety problems when they occur; they help healthcare providers in avoiding more serious consequences for patients leading to better patient outcomes. New technologies can help in providing quick and systematic identifying and correcting of operational problems.

Information systems and communication devices in healthcare are categorized based on commonly understood nursing activities such as devices for direct nursing care delivery technology, tools for indirect nursing care delivery technology and information delivering communication technology. Human-oriented devices include patient and nurse protective devices, nurse protective devices, patient assessment, monitoring and surveillance devices, patient assistive devices, remote monitoring systems, equipment having continued learning, and pattern identification systems. New technologies applied in healthcare sector offer various means for preventing errors and adverse events. The technologies help in reducing medication errors, miscommunications, and delays in treatment as well as the adverse event such as failure to rescue, pressure ulcers, nosocomial infections, falls, and complications of immobility (Hughes, 2008).

The implementation of a computerized registration of patients using healthcare information systems helps in reducing handwriting and transcription errors, accuracy and fast delivery of services (Hughes, 2008). It avoided constant and repeated registrations of patients whenever they visit the hospital. Their history could just be added to existing data. Devices applied in healthcare by nurses in the direct care of patients helps in caring for particular body events for continued life. Devices such as catheters in particular arterial catheters, central venous catheters, and peripherally inserted central catheters help the patient in carrying out activities of that body has failed to work properly or are faulty. Another example is the application of bar-coding medication administration. The technology is associated with effective and efficient to decreasing of medication errors. It helps in ensuring high the ability to review the accuracy of medication administration and decreasing errors associated with manual routine medication administration sequences. The application of devices such as non-height-adjustable low beds helps in preventing hip fractures from falls from bed, in nursing homes. Non-height-adjustable low beds are a solution for preventing hip fractures among patients (Hughes, 2008).

New technologies in healthcare are designed for minimizing errors and buffering the consequences of errors. The technique is implemented by eliminating errors as well as adverse events. They reduce the occurrence of errors during adverse events by detecting errors early, before injury occurs. The technology also mitigates the effects of errors after they occur through minimize injury. In such scenario, patient care technology yields positive nurse, patient, and organizational outcomes. For example, most of the alarms and warning systems applied in healthcare in the delivery of nursing care help in detecting errors before the injury. Some of the example of devices used includes bed exit alarms, warnings on IV pumps that help in signaling occlusions, the patient-initiated call bells, nursing staff-initiated code alarms, wandering alarms and elopement alarms, cardiac monitoring alarms, and ventilator alarms (Hughes, 2008). Such examples of warning systems foster the ability of the nurses noticing the warning, processing the alarm and comprehending what is happening. They help nurses to finally take the appropriate action to decrease risk to the patient (Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, 2011). In other examples such as in medical and surgical nurses, smart monitoring devices have been applied and integrated with the electronic medical records and other wireless communication devices.

Healthcare centers have implemented an integrated communication system in an operating room that has led to a positive effect by reducing staff time. The time wasted on phone calls has been reduced by relay messages. The technology has facilitated effective and efficient reduction of time nurses had to spend while hunting for pieces of equipment. The healthcare sector has enabled utilization of more timely in the administration of antibiotics for total joint procedures. The communication method has improved communication with family members about the progress of the patient during preoperative, operative, and postoperative care. It has enhanced provision of a quieter environment due to less overhead paging as well as the use of vibration modes for wireless telephones.

The patient care technology offered many opportunities that have improved nurse productivity and satisfaction. The various technologies have led to operational efficiency, patient satisfaction, safety, and quality. In my nursing practice, I used bar-coding, scanning, and robotics which are mainly associated with improving efficiency and decreasing costs. I have successfully worked in hospitals where barcode medication administration software has been implemented. The innovative automated system implements wireless, point-of-care technology with an integrated barcode scanner. The system is effective and efficient in reducing medication administration errors allowing clinicians verify a patient’s identity as well as validating medications against active orders. However, the technology causes reduction of the ability for physicians to review the accuracy of medication administration. It is also associated with causing the possibility of deviating from routine medication and administration sequences. The errors can be corrected using robotic administration designed to measure the required medications based on the patient’s history and diagnosis.

Conclusion

The availability of supportive use of electronic medical records as well as automated drug-dispensing machines will result in increasing nurse satisfaction, retention, and productivity, as well as decreasing errors made in the health sector. Clinical experts shall be required to provide critical input into the designing and application of technologies in health care. New strategies of care nurses being actively involved in the designing and testing of technology will be introduced. Human factors experts will also be more careful in integrating technology in making interfaces easy to learn and use under nursing stressful conditions.

References

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor (2011). Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11. 

Hughes R, (2008) Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 

Wyatt, T. & Krauskopf, P. (2012). E-health and Nursing: Using Smartphones to Enhance Nursing Practice.  Online Journal of Nursing Informatics (OJNI), 16 (2), 

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in essay writing services. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from cheap assignment writing service services.