Information system application for decision making

Information system application for decision making

Technology has been embraced in many sectors all over the whole world to ease operations. For example, in the communication sector, one can easily communicate with a friend in any part of the world through mobile phones or computers. One of the sectors where technology has been embraced is nursing. As technology advances from day to day, so does its effect on the nursing sector. It can have both negative and positive effects depending on how it is used (Kathleen, 2017).

In today’s systems of nursing, technology has played an important role in easing operations in hospitals, both for the nurses and the patients. This has been achieved through educating the nurses as well as the patients on the various technologies that can be integrated into the nursing sector to improve how the nurses work and also how the patients get health care from the nurses (Neeraja, 2016). Due to the fast-changing world of technology, it is, therefore, necessary to incorporate information technology units in the nursing courses at colleges and universities in order to ensure that the nursing sector matches the technological advances in the world. By doing this, the nurses who graduate from these colleges and universities will have an easy time linking the skills they gained in school and the technological skills needed in the job market.

In the last couple of decades, technology has been embraced in the nursing sector. Such technologies include electronic record keeping of patients and electronic monitoring of patient’s health developments, amongst others. This operation requires that the nurses be equipped with the necessary technical skills in order to perform their duties easily (Gerdin, 2016). Technology in nursing can bring about both negative and positive effects. The positive effects are such as improvements in data and record keeping for patients, on time monitoring of patients, amongst other effects. On the other hand, technology can bring about negative effects in that the nurses can be reluctant to attend to the patients due to over-relying on the information they receive from the electronic monitors placed in patients’ rooms. This can negatively affect the nursing sector because the main role of nurses is to take care of the patients and provide what the patients need in time for easy recovery of the patients (Neeraja, 2016).

Various technological skills are already implemented in the nursing sector. The most effective technology in place is electronically controlled operations. Many systems used by nurses in health centres are electronic devices which they use for various purposes ranging from patient data taking and record keeping to automation of the operation such as automatic monitoring of the patient’s development (Raymond, 2014).

In the past, nurses used a pen and a paper method in taking down patient data, and the collected data were recorded and stored in books which were not safer methods of data keeping because they can get lost or damaged (Kathleen, 2017). This setback has, over the recent years, been resolved by the use of computers and other smart electronic gadgets that are used to take patients’ data and store it in their memory for future reference. The stored data is backed up in the cloud, where it is safer in case of loss of the gadget. The good thing with the use of computers and electronic gadgets to store data is that once the data has been entered, it is safe since even if the computer or the gadget gets lost or damaged, the data can be recovered from the backed-up files (Kathleen, 2017). Nurses can, therefore, access the patient’s information at any time with ease and without a doubt. The backed-up data can be accessed by any user from anywhere in the world as long as he or she has an access key to the data. This means that the nurses can easily acquire information regarding a patient even without having to visit the patient.

In other health facilities, they have created a patient portal where patients can log into their accounts and access their health records or test results from their lab tests. This has really helped the nursing department in such health facilities by reducing the time spent on attending to each patient. It has also helped in educating the patients on what they are supposed to do when they suffer from such illnesses. Other hospitals have mobile phone numbers on their websites where patients can get it from and contact the facility for health assistance or care. This has enabled patients to know the right hospital to go to in order to get the best treatment of their illnesses. It has also helped the patients to book appointments with the nurses and doctors and therefore reducing the inconveniences of attending a health facility and failing to get assisted because of very many patients in the facility (Raymond, 2014).

In other hospitals, the patient’s rooms and beds are fitted with televisions which have cameras to monitor the patients. The patients can also use such televisions to ask for something like meals or remind the nurse of their medication. The beds are also fitted with monitors that continuously check the progress of the patients and help prevent issues such as patients oversleeping on one side or getting discomfort. This helps in the quick recovery of the patients and reduces the time spent by the nurses to attend to each and every patient. The nurses in such hospitals, on the other hand, can use the signals they receive from such monitors and take the right action. They can also use the technology and set it to help them remember what they are required to do at what time, such as which patient requires medication at what time (Neeraja, 2016).

Many health facilities have selected communication technology and implemented it in their systems for ease of operations in the facility. The main reason for doing so is to minimize the time wasted in carrying out tasks in the facility and use that time in doing something else better (Raymond, 2014).

Generally speaking, technology has bought about very many benefits to the nursing sector, which have helped nurses to deliver effectively and efficiently in their jobs. In case of emergencies, and a facility is not able to handle all, because of technology, it can easily communicate with other health facilities and request assistance, and by doing so, lives are saved (Gerdin, 2016).

In any system, there must be challenges or drawbacks. For example, in communication technology in the nursing sector, nurses are faced with very many challenges when they are communicating with each other or with patients. Some patients who are admitted to the facility, for example, may lack the knowledge required to use such communication systems to communicate with the nurse and request assistance. This makes the life of such patients difficult (Neeraja, 2016). Another drawback to this system is that some of the communication systems require a strong network connection to function optimally. This means that in case of any network challenge, the system fails, and the nurses will have to go back to the manual way of doing things to ensure that the patients are taken care of. The cost of setting up such communication systems is normally high, and therefore, some health centres find it hard to implement them in their facilities (Wanda, 2015).

Although there are such challenges in the use of technology in nursing, most of the challenges are short-term, and the use of the technological systems has long-term benefits, which outweigh the challenges. It is, therefore, appropriate to incorporate technology in the nursing sectors of health facilities (Wanda, 2015).

References

Gerdin, U., Wainwright, P. (2016). Nursing Informatics. Fairfax: IOS Press.

Kathleen, G. (2017). Integrating Technology in Nursing Education. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Neeraja, K. P. (2016). Textbook of Communication and Education Technology for Nurses. New Delhi: Jaypee Bros. Medical Publishers.

Raymond, L., Alistair, B. F. (2014). Communication and Education Technology in Nursing. University Park, Pa: Pennslyvania State University.

Wanda, E., Katherine, V. (2015). Teaching Technologies in Nursing and the Health Professionals. New York: Springer Publishers.

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Module 7 Assignment

Information System Application for Decision Making

Identify the process for decision-making regarding technology. Discuss nursing’s role in identifying appropriate technology for practice.

One technology application used in health care is to facilitate decision-making.

The application’s impact on the quality of decision-making.
The process for selecting and implementing the application.
The costs associated with the application.
Nurses’ role(s) in selecting and evaluating the application.