Essay on Technology and True Presence in Nursing

The nursing field is caring, dependable, and effective. None of which could be accomplished without teamwork, collaboration and informatics. I believe these concepts are fundamental in the nursing profession. Nurses must work with other healthcare staff, the patients and their families to provide patient-centered and quality care. The use of informatics enhance both the quality of care the clients receive and the teamwork and collaboration aspect of nursing. No one nurse can do it all on their own. Nursing requires the use of teamwork and new technology.

The video presentation by Gail Lattimer and Roy Simpson. Lattimer present the Theories and Conceptual Frameworks, which demonstrates ways nurses can use theories and concepts to engage informatics. Implementation of the Electronic Health Record (EHRs) provides a means where the nurses learn to adopt and engage technology. Technology allows the nurse to discover ways finding valid, dependable and reliable information to manage the care of the patients. Lattimer suggests nurses review the shared governance of Magnet hospitals.

Nursing informatics and technology are quickly becoming the hot buzz words for nursing in the twenty-first century. While performing research for this specific paper, the observations of how far technology has come from its inception is mind boggling. When looking back to the mid 1990’s every patient had paper charting. Nurses manually charted vital signs, nursing notes, treatments and all orders were manually written in the chart. The patient’s name, insurance information, and billing items were stored electronically. Fast forward twenty plus years and everything nurses do with, for or to a patient is filed electronically. This file today is known as the electronic health record (EHR) (Lavin, Harper, & Barr, 2015). This paper will be delving into the history of nursing informatics and technology, the pros and cons for nurses and what will be the big picture for informatics and technology in nursing today and in the future. Nursing informatics and the technology that has evolved over time are changing and quickly affecting how nurses treat, communicate, plan and document everything that they do for their patients.

Over the past decade, virtually every major industry invested heavily in computerization. The heath care industry was no exception to the rise in the use of technology. These technologies are starting to allow health care practitioners to offer faster, and more efficient patient care than ever before. No doubt this is the right direction we expect health care to follow.

Nurses in clinical practice are constantly challenged to deal with an abundance of information and multiple technology systems. Use of a computer terminal with various types of information and use of communication technologies are expectations for health care personnel, including nurses. Estimates indicate that since the 1980s, approximately 50% of all new capital investments in health care organizations have been in information technology. Informatics can aid nurses by enhancing personal and private communication among health care staff, accessing or transferring information about patients, retrieving up-to-date health care information, sharing new or common knowledge among colleagues, and assisting in making

With the rapid growth in the implementation and use of electronic medical records, there is an increase in how we define the role of nurses and other team member’s (Deese & Stien, 2004). Along with providing optimal care, nurses are also responsible for interpreting and accurately documenting large amounts of information. According to, (Ericksen, 2009) nursing informatics is defined as the integration of nursing, its information, and information management with information processing and communication technology to support the health of people worldwide. In this

A nursing technology revolution is around the corner. In recent years several advances have been made towards the implementation of various programs that help hospitals move more efficiently from ordering tests to admitting the patient into the hospitals proprietary system. In larger hospitals computers have been installed at nursing workstation so that nurses can chart information, view trending, and print lab reports. This is a long way from where nursing was 15 years ago.

Give nurses the technology they need to help perform their tasks on a daily basis, but do not let this technology take over caring, which is at the center of nursing (Tomey & Alligood, 2006). We need to teach our students, and our aging nurses, that caring is essential to nursing no matter what happens in the world today. “Nurses aspire for a practice that is based on the authentic nursing intention to know persons fully as human beings rather than as objects. When the nurse is able to simultaneously portray technological competency and caring in nursing, transformation is achieved” (Locsin, 2001, p. 3). This transformation is needed for the profession to recruit and retain nurses. If this transformation does not happen, then patients will not receive the safe, high quality care that they desire. There will be no trust of the nursing profession and nursing will never reach its full potential as a profession.

Technology developments in healthcare continue to have great impact on the profession of nursing. This includes nursing informatics. While these advances in healthcare technology began over a decade ago, they will continue to develop. Thus, influencing nursing for several decades to come, and with increasing speed. As technology continues to develop and shape the path of healthcare, more emphasis is placed on patient centered care and involvement, as well as promotion of wellness and prevention of illness and disease. Healthcare informatics opens the doors for collaboration between multiple providers and patients. With the use of informatics, patients’ needs are more

Orem describes how the patients self care needs will be meet by the nurse, patient, or both in her theory of nursing systems. “The design and elements of a nursing system defines the scope of nursing responsibility in health care situations, defines general and specific roles of nurses and patients, and defines reasons for nurses’ relationship with patients” (Current Nursing, 2010, para. 17). Orem recognized that members of the health profession usually develop specialized technologies. “A technology is systematized information about a process or a method for

Technology and innovation have transformed the way people function personally and professionally. In the past, writing and mailing a letter was standard but now most people send electronic messages and text messages to phones. Healthcare has been changing tremendously as well, not only are paper charts and records becoming obsolete, but now many facilities are sharing test results, visit information details, and prescribed drug lists. This move into the digital age has helped improve healthcare by cutting costs in the long-term, increasing efficiency with decreased wait times, and reducing medical errors. This evolving technology expansion, commonly referred to as nursing informatics has created many

As technology has and continues to advance so will the expansion of nursing informatics. Data from (19th annual 2008 himss leadership survey, 2008) hold this statement true showing a steady increase in the implementation of technologies. As computers became smaller, it became easier and efficient for hospitals and physicians office to implement their use. (sutton, 2007)The first computers were large, expensive, and inefficient. Now, computers are compact, inexpensive, and efficient. The smaller technology allows for portability of information. PDA’s are small enough to fit in your pocket. With these small devices, you can look up a patients medication, drug interactions, side effects, and just about anything, you could think of to

In today’s medical field technology plays a big role when it comes to patient care. Technology is huge when it comes to giving the patient the best type of quality care when they are in the hospital. In the old days people would just write it down on a sheet of paper and record it by hand, which caused mistakes. Now with the Electronic Health Record those mistakes are drastically declining. Statistics have shown that using the Electronic Health Record has lowered Nursing mistakes as well as improved patient care. Our society has progressed through the years and has been introduced with the Electronic Health Record which has drastically improved our health care system. The Electronic Health Record provides great communication between

Upon considering the past and future of nursing, many changes have already taken place, and even larger changes are expected. With the recent rate of technological development, the heath care system is certain to follow in its advances at nearly the same pace. Many predictions for the future of medicine are based on computerized technology. The use of telemonitoring, video and “smart houses” are already being used by some companies today, and will be utilized more frequently in the future. This will enable one nurse to care for many more patients than he/she is capable of safely caring for currently. This is very important due to the baby-boomer generation growing older and the

Telenursing has allowed for nurse to continue cares of their patient even after they are discharged from hospital. “The ICN defines telenursing as follows. Telenursing refers to the use of telecommunications technology in nursing to enhance patient care”. (Kamei, 2013). There are many ways to communicate and gather information about the patient via landline phones, cell phones, videophones, personal computers, patient-specific information input terminals, tablet computers, and smart phone. These devices are essential for providing health care professional and nursing consult and mentor patients. (Kamei, 2013). Telenurses monitor patient continuously paying attention to their non-verbal cues, and tone of voice, breathing rate to determine if there are any issues of concern. “The key to effectively forming and maintaining the nurse-patient relationship lies in the nurse’s ability to interact and communicate with the patient.” (Jones, Hendricks, & Cope, 2012). According to Kamei, there are five principles to follow with telenursing. The first principle is of “building a therapeutic nurse-client relationships”. The second principle is of “providing and documenting care”. The third principle is of “roles and responsibilities”. The fourth principle is “consent, privacy and confidentiality”. And last, the fifth principle is “ethical and legal considerations”. The nurse should be able to establish rapport with patient; be knowledgeable to provide proper education in