NURS 6051 Discussion: Healthcare Information Technology Trends

nurs 6051 discussion: healthcare information technology trends

NURS 6051 Discussion: Healthcare Information Technology Trends

Discussion: Healthcare Information Technology Trends NURS 6051

Advancement in technology has simplified the way we do things; it saves time, increases production, and simplifies communication in our lives. As society’s demands and lifestyle change, the need for advancing technology we use is high. Almost everything we use has been innovated to better standards. Health care has harnessed this opportunity to improve the quality of care with the use of medical technological tools. Current trends are enabling self-patients of health conditions with the use of wearable fitness tracking devices, telemedicine to connect patients and health care providers from a long distance, cloud storage for ease of access on mobile devices, and smart equipment within the hospital.

Here at the facility where I am employed, the most advanced technology we offer our patients would have to be telehealth. Telehealth is defined as “the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration.” by The Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) (HealthIT.gov, 2017). Telehealth uses information and communication technologies to enables the diagnosis, consultation, treatment, education, care management, and self-management of a patient’s health care while the patient is at the originating site and the health care provider is at a distant location. The technology simplifies patient self-management and caregiver support through the use of a laptop or smartphone app, rising the productivity of patient care. In my  facility, we use the Epic system for charting and communication, and a feature we bargain is the use of a health portal called ‘MyChart’ where labs, medications, personalized care plan, educational information, and interact with their physicians can  be reviewed.  Another feature that serves  24/7 access line where nurses have the ability to distantly watch cardiac monitors while the patient at home and alert the patient and physicians  advice on certain things such as  medication, abnormal lab callbacks, or when to seek treatment, and connect them with an on-call physician over the phone or app. Nurses and healthcare workers are up to date on these up-to-date technologies  use at their facility to reply any questions and clarify  to their patients.

Telehealth’s influence on nursing focuses on patients’ care either long-term wellness care , self-management, and on their current health condition. Nurses have the capacity to deliver necessary information to patients during a time of need, especially in rural areas. I believe that the impact on nursing practice is positive  through assessment, planning, interventions, and evaluations of the outcomes in patient care on a level outside of the hospital. Telehealth aids to incorporate better access to healthcare, cost reduction, and preventing unnecessary visits to urgent care or to the ER. A possible risk connected with telehealth is about having possibility of violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) in data safety and legislation. Health information is not always secure when stored on patients’ mobile devices, iPad or even on their laptop and the patient’s health record or login information could be hacked or stolen. Therefore, HIPAA training for nurses precisely towards telehealth practices is essential to keep patient’s health information safe and secure. Acceptable security and privacy protections for underlying telehealth data and systems must be provided for providers and patients to provide confidence in the use of telehealth solutions (Hall & McGraw, 2014).

online nursing essays

Struggling to Meet Your Deadline?

Get your assignment on NURS 6051 Discussion: Healthcare Information Technology Trends done on time by medical experts. Don’t wait – ORDER NOW!

Meet my deadline

In my opinion, The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) trend that includes ECG monitors, mobile apps, fitness

trackers, and smart sensors can measure biological metric data; such as blood pressure, pulse, heart rate, glucose

level, and more and set reminders for patients is the most promising in healthcare’s future (Iqbail, 2019). With the

use of affordable health monitoring devices, patients can achieve their health better . IoMT can precisely capture and

manage data in real-time and use that data analytically to identify these trends. It develops patient results by

improving the patient’s knowledge of their own health information and can be studied by health professionals. IoMT

can help physicians manage patient’s data quickly by identifying more-accurate diagnosis increasing a more-

efficient delivery of care that is cost effective.

References

HealthIT.gov. (2017, September 22 ). What is telehealth? How is telehealth different from telemedicine?. Retrieved from https://www.healthit.gov/faq/what-telehealth-how-telehealth-different-telemedicine

Hall, J., & McGraw, D. (2014). For telehealth to succeed, privacy and security risks must be identified and addressed. Health Affairs, 33(2). https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2013.0997

Iqbail, S. (2019, February 13). IoMT and big data: How the internet of medical things impacts clinical trials. Clinical Trials Innovation. Retrieved from https://knect365.com/clinical-trials-innovation/article/5024ec64-030e-4ba6-bc2b-c701a28b2b95/big-data-and-iomt-the-impact-of-the-internet-of-medical-things-on-clinical-trials

Click here to ORDER NOW FOR AN ORIGINAL PAPER ASSIGNMENT: Discussion: Healthcare Information Technology Trends NURS 6051  

Healthcare Information Technology Trends

Healthcare is becoming more digital and health information systems are using databases that allow the faster sharing of information. Medical health care awareness has allowed new data innovations that have geared towards solutions.  One major trend is the application of Electronic Health records. Electronic health care records (EHRs) are huge databases that allow medical professionals to store patient health care information. My organization has benefited from the gains of EMR systems for it has decreased the hassle of paper trails.

EMRs are prone to challenges and risks due to possible cyber attacks and hackers. This can lead to breaching of vital patient information. When the systems are hacked or accessed by cybercriminals, vital patients’ data can be damaged or illegally exposed to the public domain, compromising confidentiality, security, and privacy of patients’ medical information (Ruffin & Hawkins, 2019). Healthcare systems end to unintentionally neglect the importance and standards of HIPAA due to data sharing. EMRs need more enhanced management and clarity in the event of who and under what conditions is it purposeful to share patient information. Health care workers must remain integral and truthful to patients’ rights by ensuring patient information remains confidential, private, and secure.

There are benefits and challenges related to data safety, legislation, and patient care for EMR systems. Based on legislative ethical reasons, every patient’s health information should remain confidential. According to Kimura & Ueno 2020, system information can be secured by using a password. Another challenge is the risk of software becoming infected with viruses, leading to damages within the system that could lead to severe loss. Perhaps a way to solve this issue furthermore could be a development of a cloud structure that all data can be stored in the event of a cyber attack on the system. Image recognition is another trend that is impacting healthcare technology in practice. This method is time condensing and uses creativity to reach diagnoses with the reduction of errors in predicting illnesses (Han et al., 2020). This prediction of illness will influence patient outcomes to be efficient in data management. One example is cancer, which is an illness that isn’t detected until in manifests. Computer recognition could identify this illness sooner to reduce patient suffering in early detection.

References

Han, J. H., Hyun, Y. G., Chae, U., Lee, G. H., & Lee, J. Y. (2020). A Study On the Healthcare Technology Trends through Patent Data Analysis. Journal of Digital Convergence, 18(3), 179-187.

KIMURA, E., & UENO, S. (2020). Trends in health information and communication standards in Japan. Journal of the National Institute of Public Health, 69(1), 52-62.

Ruffin, T. R., & Hawkins, D. P. (2019). Trends in Health Care Information Technology and Informatics. In Advanced Methodologies and Technologies in Medicine and Healthcare (pp. 264-275). IGI Global.

RE: Discussion – Week 6
Collapse

Healthcare Trends

At my hospital in the operating room, we adopted using Situate Detection System by Medtronic after surgical procedures to identify retained objects in the body after closure, such as laps or raytec sponges.  Safe surgical practice is held high in my organization, and this new technology seems to enhance the quality of care we strive to give our patients.  As all OR nurses know, we must perform instrument and sponge counts before incision and at least three times before closure to prevent retained objects in the body.  Once the surgeon starts closing the patient, the wand is dressed in a sterile fashion, and given to the scrub nurse, the wand connects the monitor, and the circulating nurse activates the scanner, and the scanning process begins.  We also have a blue pad that lays under the patient that connects to the monitor, and once the surgeon starts closing and one count done, the circulating nurse activates the scanner, and the scanning process begins.  After the scan is complete, it will alert the team if there is a retained object.  From there, our IT department updated our charting to reflect the use of the detection system.  In the electronic health record, under where we chart the surgical counts are all correct, we document that we used the detection system. We have to type in a specific number the monitor gives us after the patient is scanned.

Benefits

The use of the Situate Detection System will help avoid patient care delays, such as eliminating the potential need for an X-Ray, decreases risk for infection, shortens procedure time, and decreases extended anesthesia time.  Performing the counting process before and before the closure of the operation, retained foreign bodies will be prevented, and optimal patient safety will be achieved (Holzmann et al., 2020).

Challenges/Risks

This new technology helps prevent retained objects, but nurses always need to remember new technology is not a substitution for safety vigilance by the healthcare team (McGonigle and Mastrian, 2018, pg. 303).  This new system does not detect metal, such as sutures.  A potential risk that can occur is retained sutures if the count is not done correctly, and nurses rely on the new detection system instead.  With that said, 23 states have laws mandating that a circulating nurse is in the operating room when the patient is asleep.  One of the many responsibilities of a circulating nurse is performing correct counts and documentation of surgical items before operation and closure to ensure no retained objects are left in the patient.  Therefore, if the nurse does not respond to retained objects or misses a count due to relying on the scanner, a lawsuit can be pursued by the patient.  Nursing staff must never rely on the detection system; at least three full counts by nursing staff is vital for patient safety.  In a study conducted by Galvao et al. (2016), stated that surgical count processes stand out to the World Health Organization to ensure patient safety.

I believe this trend is promising for impacting technology in the operating room.  We adopted the “No Surgical Item Left Behind” approach to help prevent retained items.  This is one more step to ensure patient safety and the OR’s efficiency as a whole.  The data we retrieve from this technology will help prevent retained items, especially in an emergency.  If the surgical count is off, we can easily find the missing sponge by scanning the patient, or even the trash can if one sponge were to be thrown away accidentally.  There are times when counts can not be done due to saving the life of the patient quickly.  With this new technology, the patient can simply be scanned to ensure there are no retained sponges.

References

Galvao, C. M., Freitas, P. S., Silveira, R. C., & Clark, A. M. (2016, July). Surgical count process for prevention of retained surgical items: an integrative review. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 25(13-14), 1835-1847.

Holtzman, J. S., Kertesz, L., Cordella, C. M., Nadera, N. M., Nelson, P. E., Kahil, M., & Shim, S. (2020, March). No surgical items left behind: A multidisciplinary approach to the surgical count process. Journal of Radiology Nursing, 39(1), 57-62.

McGonigle, D., & Mastrain, K. G. (2018). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.

Great informational post, D…,

with lots of good discussion points!  One article I enjoyed about technology additions was the Weckman and Janzen (2009) discussion of the implementation of their system for medication bar code administration. They note some of the difficulties, one of which was a less than honest vendor.

As they attempted to assure that the nurses would have a streamlined ability to give medications without delays, they asked for a system that could record vital signs in real time, so medications that were given only after vital sign assessment could be given by nurses as they accessed the vital signs taken slightly earlier by the nurses’ aides.  Unfortunately, when they got to this point in the system build they found that the particular interface with their already purchased system did not exist.  As they noted:

Hence, the device would not “talk” to our computerized patient record. It took several years and networking with an informatics nurse at another VA facility who had completed a time study demonstrating the effectiveness of a newer, interfaced software system produced by a different company, before we were able to adopt a solution that immediately downloaded “real-time vital signs.” Because we had already successfully developed our online patient assessment tool using the company that developed this newer software system, we could build on our already established relationships with this company, and the company’s information technology specialists and outside vendor programmers, to further integrate our system (Weckman & Janzen, 2009, para. #41).

But not to worry, they did learn something besides not always trusting vendors – they learned that “it was much more difficult and often more costly to retrofit older equipment than to buy new equipment.  So they felt it was worth the lesson learned.

Yet, I am not sure how one would account for a less than honest vendor.  What do you think?

The trend in the use of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is encouraging because it “enhances physicians’ perceptions of preparation for managing patients with chronic diseases, increases their ability to document and follow up on adverse events, and improves the implementation of clinical practice guidelines” (Biro et al., 2012). EMR provides accurate, up-to-date patient information, enables safe and mobile prescriptions, and helps providers improve productivity and work life. EMRs increase the ability to conduct education and research, improving quality, safety, and efficiency. Another benefit of the EMR is that it is accessible to anyone who needs it at any time. It can be accessed easily from remote sites, such as a clinic across town or the country. There is no fear of losing, nor will misplacing the data be lost or misplaced.

Irrespective of the benefit of using the Electron Medical Record (EMR), some disadvantages exist. These problems include increased provider time, patient care delays that result in computer downtime, lack of standards, and threats to confidentiality. “The chief complaint against EMR is that it has undermined personalized, face-to-face patient care and the vital doctor-patient interaction – the very soul of medicine – into a new check box-based doctor-computer-patient interaction” (Honavar, 2020),

Nice post!

Hello Natasha, I enjoyed reading your post; very informative. Your point about mobile apps and social media use in health care delivery is certainly on trend. While it is true that mobile apps provide patients with more information, education, access, and increase involvement in their care, it also puts their information at risk. For example, MyChart-a patient portal- is a fantastic information communication tool created by Epic. Delocalization of health records, prompt delivery of information to other medical facilities, increased patient involvement, and the acquisition of mass data for research are but a few of the profound impacts of these electronic health tools (Gariépy-Saper & Decarie, 2021). However, it requires safe handling by patients and providers alike. Even with the large scale of technological advancement, ethical issue of patient information privacy and security remains a significant problem (Gariépy-Saper & Decarie, 2021). Safeguarding patient information requires both the patient and provider to employ safety measures such as strong user authentication and robust information management network security. Home health nurses, doctors on wheels, and home PT/ OT service personnel must access and document patient care. Because they are in the community, they often use out-of-network wifi, which is a risk of patient information being assaulted. Therefore, electronic protected health information (EPHI) encryption and virtual private network (VPNs) should be employed to make certain that all data transmitted on unsecured networks are encrypted (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). As you mentioned, age can be a barrier. Hence, eligibility for these invaluable mobile devices must include machine learning ability, one-on-one education by nurse informaticists, more robust authentication methods, and privacy and safety rules for all, especially the elderly. A minor mishandling of such information could lead to many significant problems.

I concord with your position that providers can care for more patients using telehealth as opposed to in-person appointments. Study shows that less than 1% used telehealth pre-pandemic, while over 80% utilized telehealth during the pandemic (Karimi et al., 2022). The surge in telehealth utilization during the Covid-19 pandemic is quite understandable. Also, telehealth can potentially close the access gap to healthcare services for underserved and rural communities. The benefits of telehealth are innumerable. However, due to barriers such as low-income households, broadband internet access, language barriers, quality of care, health information security, privacy, and coverage/ reimbursement, the percentage of telehealth use post-pandemic has significantly decreased (Karimi et al., 2022). Also, the widespread adoption of telehealth use could be improved by regulatory, legal, and reimbursement barriers (Gajarawala & Pelkowski, 2021). Nevertheless, telehealth use remains higher at present compare to pre-pandemic.  

Investments in internet access, video-enabled devices, and culturally competent care are needed to mitigate these disparities to ensure equitable and effective use of telehealth services (Karimi et al., 2022). Telehealth is a huge benefit to the public and the medical research community. 

Thank you

Name: NURS_5051_Module04_Week06_Discussion_Rubric

  Excellent Good Fair Poor
Main Posting
 
45 (45%) – 50 (50%)

Answers all parts of the discussion question(s) expectations with reflective critical analysis and synthesis of knowledge gained from the course readings for the module and current credible sources.

Supported by at least three current, credible sources.

Written clearly and concisely with no grammatical or spelling errors and fully adheres to current APA manual writing rules and style.
 
40 (40%) – 44 (44%)

Responds to the discussion question(s) and is reflective with critical analysis and synthesis of knowledge gained from the course readings for the module.

At least 75% of post has exceptional depth and breadth.

Supported by at least three credible sources.

Written clearly and concisely with one or no grammatical or spelling errors and fully adheres to current APA manual writing rules and style.
 
35 (35%) – 39 (39%)

Responds to some of the discussion question(s).

One or two criteria are not addressed or are superficially addressed.

Is somewhat lacking reflection and critical analysis and synthesis.

Somewhat represents knowledge gained from the course readings for the module.

Post is cited with two credible sources.

Written somewhat concisely; may contain more than two spelling or grammatical errors.

Contains some APA formatting errors.
 
0 (0%) – 34 (34%)

Does not respond to the discussion question(s) adequately.

Lacks depth or superficially addresses criteria.

Lacks reflection and critical analysis and synthesis.

Does not represent knowledge gained from the course readings for the module.

Contains only one or no credible sources.

Not written clearly or concisely.

Contains more than two spelling or grammatical errors.

Does not adhere to current APA manual writing rules and style.
Main Post: Timeliness
 
10 (10%) – 10 (10%)
Posts main post by day 3.
 
0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
 
0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
 
0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
Does not post by day 3.
First Response
 
17 (17%) – 18 (18%)

Response exhibits synthesis, critical thinking, and application to practice settings.

Responds fully to questions posed by faculty.

Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by at least two scholarly sources.

Demonstrates synthesis and understanding of learning objectives.

Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues.

Responses to faculty questions are fully answered, if posed.

Response is effectively written in standard, edited English.
 
15 (15%) – 16 (16%)

Response exhibits critical thinking and application to practice settings.

Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues.

Responses to faculty questions are answered, if posed.

Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by two or more credible sources.

Response is effectively written in standard, edited English.
 
13 (13%) – 14 (14%)

Response is on topic and may have some depth.

Responses posted in the discussion may lack effective professional communication.

Responses to faculty questions are somewhat answered, if posed.

Response may lack clear, concise opinions and ideas, and a few or no credible sources are cited.
 
0 (0%) – 12 (12%)

Response may not be on topic and lacks depth.

Responses posted in the discussion lack effective professional communication.

Responses to faculty questions are missing.

No credible sources are cited.
Second Response
 
16 (16%) – 17 (17%)

Response exhibits synthesis, critical thinking, and application to practice settings.

Responds fully to questions posed by faculty.

Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by at least two scholarly sources.

Demonstrates synthesis and understanding of learning objectives.

Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues.

Responses to faculty questions are fully answered, if posed.

Response is effectively written in standard, edited English.
 
14 (14%) – 15 (15%)

Response exhibits critical thinking and application to practice settings.

Communication is professional and respectful to colleagues.

Responses to faculty questions are answered, if posed.

Provides clear, concise opinions and ideas that are supported by two or more credible sources.

Response is effectively written in standard, edited English.
 
12 (12%) – 13 (13%)

Response is on topic and may have some depth.

Responses posted in the discussion may lack effective professional communication.

Responses to faculty questions are somewhat answered, if posed.

Response may lack clear, concise opinions and ideas, and a few or no credible sources are cited.
 
0 (0%) – 11 (11%)

Response may not be on topic and lacks depth.

Responses posted in the discussion lack effective professional communication.

Responses to faculty questions are missing.

No credible sources are cited.
Participation
 
5 (5%) – 5 (5%)
Meets requirements for participation by posting on three different days.
 
0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
 
0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
 
0 (0%) – 0 (0%)
Does not meet requirements for participation by posting on 3 different days.
Total Points: 100

Name: NURS_5051_Module04_Week06_Discussion_Rubric

Discussion: Healthcare Information Technology Trends

Throughout history, technological advancements have appeared for one purpose before finding applications elsewhere that lead to spikes in its usage and development. The internet, for example, was originally developed to share research before becoming a staple of work and entertainment. But technology—new and repurposed—will undoubtedly continue to be a driver of healthcare information. Informaticists often stay tuned to trends to monitor what the next new technology will be or how the next new idea for applying existing technology can benefit outcomes.

In this Discussion, you will reflect on your healthcare organization’s use of technology and offer a technology trend you observe in your environment.

To Prepare:

  • Reflect on the Resources related to digital information tools and technologies.
  • Consider your healthcare organization’s use of healthcare technologies to manage and distribute information.
  • Reflect on current and potential future trends, such as use of social media and mobile applications/telehealth, Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled asset tracking, or expert systems/artificial intelligence, and how they may impact nursing practice and healthcare delivery.

By Day 3 of Week 6

Post a brief description of general healthcare technology trends, particularly related to data/information you have observed in use in your healthcare organization or nursing practice. Describe any potential challenges or risks that may be inherent in the technologies associated with these trends you described. Then, describe at least one potential benefit and one potential risk associated with data safety, legislation, and patient care for the technologies you described. Next, explain which healthcare technology trends you believe are most promising for impacting healthcare technology in nursing practice and explain why. Describe whether this promise will contribute to improvements in patient care outcomes, efficiencies, or data management. Be specific and provide examples.

By Day 6 of Week 6

Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days, offering additional/alternative ideas regarding opportunities and risks related to the observations shared.

*Note: Throughout this program, your fellow students are referred to as colleagues.

RE: Discussion – Week 6

COLLAPSE

Top of Form

One of the trends seen in healthcare is the implementation of electronic health records (EHR).  Some common benefits of EHR are guideline-based care, increased disease process surveillance, and reduced medication errors (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). Where I work we have gone through three different charting software in 10 years.  Each one has had its distinct advantages, but often comes with times of less proficiency, errors, and increased hours to chart appropriately.  The current charting software has developers that use input from our nurses to be implemented in future upgrades. This is advantageous because we are able to use their framework and tweak it to meet our needs which usually serves other customers also. The risks associated with working out the bugs and having software downtimes.  This is especially frustrating when charting has been lost and has to be re-typed and increases the length of shift, frustration, and lost confidence. There is also a risk of using this type of EHR because it is electronic and gets passed through many different channels like medical records, billing, quality assurance, and education.  During those times of transition, protected health information (PHI) is at its greatest vulnerability for being leaked, misdirected or stolen.  Hackers are still looking to steal patient names, dates of birth, addresses, medical record numbers, current/former health plan member ID numbers, claims information, diagnoses, and Social Security numbers. Which can result in false tax returns or medical claims being filed in their name (HIPAA, 2021). Something I discovered was the greatest risk of data leaks is from employees.  Insider data breaches accounted for up to 71% of the healthcare industry’s data breaches during 2018 (HIPAA,2018).

I think personable wearable devices are going to be a healthcare technology trend that will contribute to showing improvements in patient care outcomes and efficiencies. A practical example would be wearable technology such as continuous glucose monitoring systems (CGM).  They generate large amounts of data daily that is sent to the user’s phone.  This data is used to dose insulin. Many times on an insulin pump. Integration of the two systems has begun with some manufacturers so that the CGM talks to the insulin pump and administers insulin according to the glucose numbers that are generated.  The CGM can also be used to analyze which foods are causing increases in blood sugar levels and assist with identifying foods to avoid that cause metabolic disturbance requiring higher than normal doses of insulin. Combine these technologies with a wearable exercise monitor and the user could integrate a daily exercise routine into controlling blood sugars. The results could give the wearer information about which workouts are going to control blood glucose more effectively. By utilizing the same data set that is monitoring blood sugars combined with other data sets providers could look at controlling blood sugars from different methods. The prescribed CGM could share individual data to generate large data and be used in research for the advancement of diabetic care. Using data to achieve performance goals helps form a consistent solution for measuring quality and help identify which initiatives provide the s greatest probability of producing positive clinical outcomes (Norris, 2016). These individual wearable results combined together could become extremely useful data to providers, medical researchers, and product developers for the advancement of diabetic care. 

HIPAA Journal (December 24, 2021). HIPAA breach news. Retrieved December 

28,2021from https://www.hipaajournal.com/category/hipaa-breach-news/ 

and HIPAA Threats. (Jan 8, 2018). The top HIPAA threats are likely not from where you think. Retrieved Dec 28, 2021 from https://www.hipaajournal.com/top-hipaa-threats/

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of 

knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Pg. 274

Norris, D. (2016, February 1). Shedding light on physician performance transparency: 

health systems have an important opportunity–one that they should not miss–to 

use big data to help optimize performance, reduce risk, and increase profits. Healthcare Financial Management, 70(2), 60.

Response

This is insightful Nathan, the implementation of the electronic health record system (EHR) has been on the rise. The system provides platforms for capturing and storing essential healthcare information. The EHR system provides increased efficiency in healthcare services, a scenario that greatly reduces problems such as medication errors (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). Organizations committed to the delivery of quality healthcare services are always in constant integration of different forms of technology. Charting software is necessary is essential in the work environment as it ensures increased sharing of information and collaboration within the healthcare environment (Vanderhook & Abraham, 2017). With the increased utilization of different devices to capture data, more healthcare institutions require advanced technologies to ensure quality services. Different technological devices are mainly used to reduce the vulnerability of protected health information (PHI). The devices have more advanced features that ensure the safety and security of information under consideration (Mutlag et al., 2019). Further, the evolution of technological devices can enhance sharing of information to enhance the quality of healthcare delivery services. 

References

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of 

knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Pg. 274

Vanderhook, S., & Abraham, J. (2017, June). Unintended consequences of EHR systems: a narrative review. In Proceedings of the International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care (Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 218-225). Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.1177/2327857917061048

Mutlag, A. A., Abd Ghani, M. K., Arunkumar, N. A., Mohammed, M. A., & Mohd, O. (2019). Enabling technologies for fog computing in healthcare IoT systems. Future Generation Computer Systems, 90, 62-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2018.07.049

RE: Discussion – Week 6

COLLAPSE

Top of Form

Week 6 Discussion

           The health care system aims at meeting the current and complex health care demands of a population. This necessitates that the health care systems stay up to date with the trends in the health care industry. Technology is a major player in this transformation. Advancements in technology necessitate the application and the implementation of technological tools in healthcare such as in the information channel.

Technological Trends in Healthcare

           Technology has changed the distribution of information in health care. These changes are visible in the transformation of manual health records to electronic health records (EHRs). 

It has also seen the use of wearable devices to monitor patients and currently, the use of remote health care services via the internet. Technology also promises the use of artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things, artificial sensing, and robots to add value to the chain of health care information (Rehman, Andargoli, & Pousti, 2019). Other technological trends present in the health care system include the use of blockchain technology and cloud computing.

Benefits and Challenges of Technological Trends in Health Care

           The current trends in health care technology are revolving towards being smart with the aid of data science. Some challenges that may occur include the limitation of computation power that may inhibit the ability of technology to handle large amounts of data. These technological trends will reduce cost and the requirement in human effort. However, they may increase concerns with security and ethical values. Another challenge with technology is that it is not entirely automatic as it requires human effort to make decisions (Ghosh, Chakraborty, & Law, 2018). This challenge will although be eased with the application of artificial intelligence. Tools of AI such as machine learning (ML) will mimic human reasoning and emulate it to provide accurate and fast data analysis. The increased capacity of technology due to AI helps in the making of timely and direct decisions while increasing accessibility.

           The application of the trends raises concerns with the data ethically in terms of the integration of the consent of the patients to apply the data. Clinicians will also face the challenge of determining the scope of AI which requires educating the patient and incorporation their opinion. Algorithms used by AI may not be fair and may have some bias to the patients. Clinicians may also have difficulties in communicating with AI and its language, which may lead to misinterpretation and thus undesirable outcomes for the patients (Gerke, Minssen, & Cohen, 2020). Another issue is that AI and the current trends in technology is that it is not tailored to the specific needs of a patient hence may give wrong and unsafe recommendations for the treatment of the patients. Issues such as ownership of the data, accessibility of the data, and terms of the agreement may harm the patients by breaching their privacy and confidentiality. Legally, restrictive regulatory measures such as the US Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) may inhibit the application of technology through their regulations in terms of the safety and effectiveness of the smart devices to support clinical decisions.

           In my opinion, the application of the Internet of Things(IoT) in health care promises the most benefits in health care as it will help in smoothening and enhancement of the delivery of care through the prediction of issues related to health and thus in the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of the patients. This is because the IoT uses a connection of interrelated devices, which are connected over a wiles system in collecting, sending, and storing data without the contribution of human interactions. This is due to the ability of IoT to tag devices such as nebulizers and defibrillators which help in monitoring the patients and in the proactive engagement with them.

References

Gerke, S., Minssen, T., & Cohen, G. (2020). Ethical and legal challenges of artificial intelligence-driven healthcare. Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2FB978-0-12-818438-7.00012-5

Ghosh, A., Chakraborty, D., & Law, A. (2018). Artificial Intelligence in Internet of Things. CAAI Transactions on Intelligence Technology 3(4): http://dx.doi.org/10.1049/trit.2018.1008

Rehman, M. U., Andargoli, A., & Pousti, H. (2019). Healthcare 4.0: Trends, Challenges and Benefits. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342981091_Healthcare_40_Trends_Challenges_and_Benefits

Response

This is insightful Happiness, the application of technology in the healthcare system, is essential in improving healthcare delivery processes. Different technologies have been designed to provide a solution to current and complex healthcare processes. Currently, technology is important in healthcare processes because it ensures increased efficiency (Agbo et al., 2019). Electronic health record system is one of the technologies that have been developed to enhance the delivery of healthcare systems with increased efficiency. EHR system has the ability to capture and keep/store data to enhance sharing of healthcare information (Tsai et al., 2019). With the complexity of healthcare delivery services, more healthcare experts continue to come up with/develop new technologies that can solve the emerging problems. Artificial intelligence is another emerging technology that is expected to enhance the quality of healthcare services delivered to patients (Ghosh et al., 2018). Artificial intelligence is expected to reduce medication errors and other problems associated with healthcare delivery services. Finally, the internet of things will continue to be integrated into the healthcare systems to facilitate the delivery of healthcare services. The integration of technology in the healthcare system ought to be done in line with the policies in the healthcare sector.

References

Ghosh, A., Chakraborty, D., & Law, A. (2018). Artificial Intelligence in Internet of Things. CAAI Transactions on Intelligence Technology 3(4): http://dx.doi.org/10.1049/trit.2018.1008

Tsai, M. F., Hung, S. Y., Yu, W. J., Chen, C. C., & Yen, D. C. (2019). Understanding physicians’ adoption of electronic medical records: Healthcare technology self-efficacy, service level and risk perspectives. Computer Standards & Interfaces, 66, 103342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csi.2019.04.001

Agbo, C. C., Mahmoud, Q. H., & Eklund, J. M. (2019, June). Blockchain technology in healthcare: a systematic review. In Healthcare (Vol. 7, No. 2, p. 56). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare7020056

Bottom of Form

NURS 6051 Discussion: Healthcare Information Technology Trends

            Indeed, health informatics has resulted into massive impacts on the current health care provision by helping in delivery of high quality, efficient, and cost-effective care (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). Therefore, in the present paper, the focus will be on the use of smart phones as the health information technology trends in my practice. In particular, the practice uses voice, alarm, and text (Voalte) application for smart phones which connotes a wide-ranging health care communication solution that involve various Voalte applications and combine with existing hospital system (King et al., 2017). It leverages smart phones to improve communication between clinicians and care givers through alarms, voice, and text calls both inside and outside the health care facility. This application enables health care providers to receive protected text messages, access direct phone calls, get crucial alarms, and answer patient call lights via the Hill-Rom system. This technology is critical in fostering an effective workflow and enable quick response to patients’ health care needs. Moreover, the technology is critical in reducing distractions and environment noise caused by alarms and overhead paging, which ultimately support a quiet health care facility environment and also reduce clinical and procedural errors that are associated with distractions. 

            Despite the opportunity associated with Voalte application in health care, it is also marred by certain challenges. For instance, given that the Voalte application is a new technology; many staff members do not have the necessary skills and knowledge on how to effectively use the technology in health care delivery which results in massive confusion in the applicability. Health care scholars argue that the process of applying Voalte is involving and requires thorough education and training to provide adequate competency and skills to the technology consumers (King et al., 2017). The other challenge with Voalte program is poor connectivity. Sometimes there are network connectivity issues leading to considerable communication challenges such as interrupted calls, failure in sending messages, hanging network, and dropping calls, which direly affect the communication chains during health care delivery process, leading to poor patient outcomes.

Potential Benefit and Risk Associated with Data Safety, Legislation, and Patient Care

            The potential benefit of Voalte on data safety is that the technology involves various applications which are developed with many privacy and security features including privacy policies, role-based access control, restricted control, remote wipe, multifactor authentication, secure text messaging, and encryption. Besides, some of the applications do not involve any patient data and so, such applications do not elicit privacy and security concerns (Skiba, 2017). Regarding the benefit of the technology on legislation, the Voalte program is compliant to the FDA guidelines on the regulations of mobile medical applications because it is premised on patient safety. Besides, it addresses checks the limits on discovery and innovation by strictly adopting the applications that have been proven to be effective such as Voalte One, Voalte Me, Voalte Messanger, and Voalte Connect. Concerning the benefit on patient care, the technology enables the direct channeling of patient calls and alarms to the nurse on duty. As a result, time managed in patient care is improved and it enables more effective communication through secure texting from one device to another and getting phone calls from health care providers which leads to high quality care, high greater patient satisfaction, and increased safety.

            On the other hand, the risks associated with data safety include possibility of privacy breach by exposing personal information such as medical information, dates of birth, and email addresses. Moreover, there is risk of hacking of the system by cyber criminals (Skiba, 2017). The risk of legislation involves lack of regulation and approval since this technology was developed by the health care institutions and its apps may not be FDA approved. Moreover, the ever-changing health care sector implies that legislations on technology can equally change at any time. The risk on patient care involves unreliable and inadequate information that may mislead health care providers to provide inappropriate health care to patients (Skiba, 2017).

Promising Health Care Technology Trends

            The health care technology trends that are promising in the current health care industry involve the use of electronic health records (EHRs). Today, the health care organizations are characterized by massive data that should be handled appropriately to avoid the dire consequences that may occur from improper management of such data (Rao-Gupta et al., 2018). Therefore, McGonigle & Mastrian (2017), claim that utilization of electronic resources is crucial in facilitating clinical decision making and trust in health care. EHRs play important roles of fostering the health care provision process by helping in sharing all the critical patient information to appropriate care providers to help in making informed decision about the best care for the patient, this include the point-of-care decision making (HealthIT.gov., 2018c). For instance, the patient assessment findings by the physician are fed into the system. Other vital information such as food allergies and medication use are providing to guide in care provision. Moreover, the EHRs can also be used by the health care providers to examine the drug safety, routes of administration, and dosage. Therefore, EHRs encompass promising future for the health care industry especially in ensuring quality, safety, and efficiency in providing health care.

References

HealthIT.gov. (2018c). What is an electronic health record (EHR)? Retrieved from https://www.healthit.gov/faq/what-electronic-health-record-ehr

King, B., Sanjay-Gopal, S., Sica, M. G., Fibiger, P. N., & Fletcher, D. C. (2017). U.S. Patent No. 9,649,073. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning

Rao-Gupta, S., Kruger, D. Leak, L. D., Tieman, L. A., &Manworren, R. C. B. (2018). Leveraging interactive patient care technology to Improve pain management engagement. Pain Management Nursing, 19(3), 212–221. doi:10.1016/j.pmn.2017.11.002

Skiba, D. (2017). Evaluation tools to appraise social media and mobile applications. Informatics, 4(3), 32–40. doi:10.3390/informatics4030032

Don’t wait until the last minute

Fill in your requirements and let our experts deliver your work asap.

Start My Order