Introduction
Nursing practice is increasingly dependent on technology and the ability to incorporate it into the daily care of patients. Several landmark reports from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) called for technology as a tool to help create a safer, more efficient healthcare delivery system along with workforce preparation that would enable healthcare professionals to use that technology to realize purported benefits (Bichel-Findlay et al., 2020). After taking the AACN Essentials self-assessment, my score was 27, which I am happy about, but feel confident that it could be a little higher.
Discussion
One area I thought I fell short in was using telecommunication technologies to assist in effective communication in a variety of healthcare settings. There are numerous benefits to using information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the healthcare industry. They can encourage patient-oriented care, raise the standard of health care, and instruct both patients and medical staff. The author of this week’s textbook readings asserts that “as nursing practice evolves, technology evolves in tandem” (Hebda et al., 2019). Implementing ICTs, however, is still challenging and requires adjustments on many levels, including those for patients, healthcare institutions, and healthcare professionals. The largest category of healthcare professionals is made up of nurses. The utilization of ICTs by nursing staff may have a positive effect on their clinical work. The use of technology in the field of nursing is crucial for our safety and well-being as well as the patients’.
Another area where my knowledge could use improvement is advocating for the usage of new patient care technologies for safe, quality care. Nurses must speak up for both patients and themselves since they lower the chance of mistakes and enhance patient safety by utilizing the most recent technological methods, like EMR. In an article titled, “How Technology Has Changed the Role of Nursing,” the author says, “Technology continues to shift the nursing field in many ways, with the pace of change expected to increase with time” (Bailey, 2021).
Conclusion
As a result, it is critical for nurses to stay current on new technologies in their field, as this will vastly improve their practice. The complexity of patient care technologies has changed how the nursing profession is imagined and provided. Before the widespread use of technology, nurses mainly relied on their five senses to keep track of patients’ conditions and spot changes.
References
Bailey, S. (2021). How Technology Has Changed the Role of Nursing. NurseJournal.
Bichel-Findlay, J., Dixon, K., & Alexander, N. (2020). Nurses delivering care in a digitised environment. In Nursing in Australia (pp. 21-32). Routledge.
Hebda, T., Hunter, K., & Czar, P. (2019). Handbook of informatics for nurses &healthcareprofessionals (6th ed.). Pearson.