Introduction
Technological advances are changing how things are done in the nursing and healthcare field to improve health care services provided to patients and health care outcomes. With these advances in technology, nurses can perform their duties and care for patients more efficiently. The invention of devices such as radio frequency identification enabled devices, tablets, electronic charts, and computers have improved efficiency, and the nursing field has adapted along with these changes (Walsh, 2019). A Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy is relevant to many healthcare facilities as healthcare workers and nurses often use their own devices to access the Electronic Health Records (EHRs) or other databases when working with patients. Such measures help healthcare organizations to enhance patient care while saving costs on providing nurses with specific devices that are used only at work. However, on the contrary, the BYOD policy may have its limitations because some nurses may not have the needed device, so it is hard to rely on the policy entirely. Secondly, accessing the EHRs and patient databases from personal devices can lead to breaches of patient data, which raises privacy and ethical concerns. Therefore, the BYOD policy should develop strict rules for the data protection and software used by nurses.
The Policy’s Current Effectiveness
Whether using quantitative or qualitative research methods, information technology can make the collection of data very efficient. The most crucial IT that is found useful in the collection of data was the digital camera and conducting surveys on social media platforms, particularly Facebook. A digital camera is crucial for patient care when carrying out research on behavioral issues of patients that can affect nurses. In addition, nurses can comfortably conduct interviews via video conferencing on respondents who are geographically in remote places, which make face-to-face interview difficult. Databases store crucial patient information and also research evidence that can help nurses improve patient care.
Presence of EHR improves the ability of healthcare professionals to access the health history of patients that is crucial in decision-making. The most crucial database that nurses frequently use is the Electronic Health Records (EHR), which contains patients’ biodata that nurses can use to improve clinical outcomes (Sedig, Naimi & Haggerty, 2017). Patients also have the opportunity to access their data through portals. Enhanced access to patients’ information contributes to making the right decisions in caring for the patients. Such decisions lead to an improvement in the quality of care using evidence-based practice. Patients also have enhanced access to their medical information. Use of EHR eliminates the need to sort paper records of patients that can be cumbersome. Besides, the system provides fast access to information that is convenient for professionals in health organizations. The use of EHR eliminates the burden of paperwork previously used in the healthcare system. At the same time, EHR eases access to information that reduces the workload of health professionals.
The Policy’s Compliance with Current Evidence
The BYOD policy is especially relevant in times where technologies extensively enhance patient care quality and patient outcomes. The introduction of telemedicine technology will be useful in cardiovascular healthcare. Monitoring vital signals and symptoms using Telemonitoring technology can now be done remotely. Already, plans to develop remote ultrasound technology are underway. The technology will shorten the patient waiting time, improve access in rural areas and improve efficiency leading to cost savings.
Mobile health will also see more patients receive health care services through the use of mobile technology. Today, over 80% of nurses and health practitioners use mobile phones, and 25% use phones to provide patient care. Mobile phones enable health workers to complete tasks in remote areas. Most nurses can now access patients’ EHRs, review the patient’s medical history, and send an email with the full prescription. However, mobile phones can be stolen, infected with viruses or malware, or data erased as a result of human error leading to loss of data (Banova, 2018). Therefore, developing a proper BYOD policy is already proven to be effective and enhances patient outcomes and quality of care. The policy should have strict guidelines that would make risks of data breaches minimalized.
The software in the devices has applications that can be vulnerable to malware attacks. The attackers of the Android networks exploit the user’s vulnerability by hiding the malware to allow users to initiate infected codes. The ever-growing vulnerability to cyber threats has caused governments across the globe to take action in protecting mobile phone users through cybersecurity protection measures. Most individuals prefer keeping important information away from intrusion by major technological means. Such storage may become insecure since criminals have come with several ways of unlawful access to these data. As such, the need for improving the systems becomes evident through upgrading and enforcement of laws to allow specific organizations only to gain access with relevant reasons. The focus of this paper is to determine the effects of intrusion on individual privacy using a technological database.
Recommendations on the Next Steps
The BYOD policy implementation has its advantages and disadvantages. However, the development of rules and guidelines for nurses who would access databases with their smartphones could minimize the possible adverse effects of the policy, such as data breach concerns or violations of patient data storage. Therefore, the guidelines must be developed along with consultation with data protection and cyber security specialists that would suggest or develop the software that would protect patient data from breaches. Further, all nurses that are involved in the BYOD policy must undergo training to learn how to use their smartphones at work to the benefit of the healthcare organization and its patients.
References
Banova, B. (2018). The impact of technology on healthcare. AIMS EDUCATION. Web.
Sedig, K., Naimi, A., & Haggerty, N. (2017). Aligning information technologies with evidencebased health-care activities: A design and evaluation framework. Human Technology, 13(2).
Walsh, U. (2019). How nursing has changed with technology. Web.