Tech Revolutionising Medical Care: Impact on Nursing - Essay Sample

Introduction

In the last three decades, information technology has significantly changed the medical field. The era of manual filling of medical records and accurate charting is decreasing. With the emergence and advancement of information technology in electronic record-keeping, telehealth, and mobile technologies, patients and medical professions have more data access. According to Gooch (2018), some nurses opposed new information technology expressing that it takes personal associates between them and patients, while research involving 600 nurses revealed that approximately 82% held that information system positively influences patient care. For medical professions, information technology assists them in providing better care for patients, enhance the quality of healthcare despite being affected by various factors and shareholders who decline to support the change it brings in the healthcare field.

Literature Review

There is a desire to embrace information technology in the medical field since it offers better care for patients and aids in attaining health equity. IT supports the inventory of patient information to enhance the delivery of healthcare and permit for the assessment of this data by both the government agencies or the ministry of health and health professions (Muinga et al., 2018). Therefore, this information is utilized for policy implementation primarily to improve treatment and avert the spread of ailments.

Information technology in medical care reduces medical errors (Goldstein, 2014). In middle and low-income nations, the necessity for affordable and efficient medical software is significant. For example, the OpenMRSs community aids to meet this particular requirement by establishing and backing the Open Medical Record System (Muinga et al., 2018). This is an open-source electronic health record abbreviated as an EHR platform that is free and primarily developed for low-resource environments. Besides, Muinga et al. (2018) support that information technology in the medical field enhances health care quality by offering accurate patient records. Thus, with extensive patient history, physicians precisely treat diseases and avert over and the wrong prescription of medicines that may be lethal.

Motivation

While decreased human error is a major force motivating information technology in medical care, data security threats prevent it (Goldstein, 2014). With IT in place, regular processes are simplified. For instance, automated IV pumps help measure medicine drugs prescribed to patients. This results in a rapid reaction for altering drip quantity and prescription. Data security threats, however, prevent the adoption of IT in the medical field. Most computerized data, particularly in EHR, are maintained in the cloud and is prone to hacking (Goldstein, 2014). Thus, where an inexperienced health professional may click malware, the entire EHR stands the threat of being compromised.

Environment

Information technology is mainly implemented in a hospital setting and used by medical professions such as doctors, nurses, and patients who are the key stakeholders. They, however, do not accept every type of IT. Nurses, for instance, are not open to change associated with IT due to some barriers. Hamstra (2018) found that nurses claimed IT is a threat to substitute person-to-person relationships between medical professions and patients. For example, robotics nurses are becoming an emerging change in the medical field. In Japan, they are being used as an approach to decrease the burden of nurses. They, however, lack human touch and empathy, which is a major barrier to their implementation.

References

Goldstein, M. M. (2014). Health information privacy and health information technology in the US correctional setting. American journal of public health, 104(5), 803-809. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2013.301845

Gooch, K. (2018). Survey: 82% of nurses have a positive view of technology's influence on patient care. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/survey-82-of-nurses-have-positive-view-of-technology-s-influence-on-patient-care.html.

Hamstra, B. (2018). Will These Nurse Robots Take Your Job? Don't Freak Out Just Yet.. https://nurse.org/articles/nurse-robots-friend-or-foe/.

Muinga, N., Magare, S., Monda, J., Kamau, O., Houston, S., Fraser, H., ... & Paton, C. (2018). Implementing an open-source electronic health record system in Kenyan health care facilities: a case study. JMIR medical informatics, 6(2), e22. doi: 10.2196/medinform.8403