Pick Future Issues
Lessons Learned
This project was a culmination of the different projects completed throughout the semester. It was a lengthy project as you had to write the paper, make the PowerPoint, make the video and upload it to YouTube and then post here. It was interesting to learn about the future of information technology and where IT is headed as far as healthcare is concerned. I especially liked researching the idea of the Chatbots who are used in many industries and can be formatted to meet the needs of some clinical areas. I learned more technological applications utilized in IT and web-based media venues. It was a review and a summary of the semesters content.
Take away from this course:
I have worked in the acute care setting for more than 30 years and this class has forced me to look at the outpatients or the homecare every day person looking for healthcare knowledge. The world of medicine and hospitals is moving to chronic illness management and away from acute care inpatients hospitalizations. It is very important that as nurses we are prepared to educate and inform the health consumers on the outside of the medical facility. The focus has changed from hands on bedside nursing to internet based, communicative advisors ensuring the quality of health information is maintained and reputable. It was a very valuable class especially with the advancement in health information technology and the large population utilizing the internet and their healthcare resources.
Written Assignment #6: Future Issues
Alanna
M. Schauer
Thomas
Edison State College
Abstract
This paper discusses the future of
health information technology, healthcare delivery, and consumer use of health
information and technology. It discusses
how nurses with informatics skills and knowledge can be poised to be leaders in
the health information and technology movement.
Nurse informaticists provide support and consultation to consumers and
ensure their health resources are reputable. It details how nurses engage in
the future of health technology, and consumer interaction. This paper explains the proposed a scenario
for technology to exist in the future and how the health consumer, health care
system, and the health providers will live with the implementation of the
advances in technology. It discusses how mobile devices are utilized in the
technological future as a common workplace tool, interactive web tools are
highly superior, and smart phone will be important in communicating between
patients and providers. It also discusses the implementation of Chatbots and
electronic health record (EHR) -Extender as part of the need for increased
technology and service in health care.
The paper includes a global initiative by the International Council of
Nurses to implement eHealth as a means to increase technology worldwide.
Written Assignment #6: Future
Issues
Introduction
Information technology (IT) has broadened the practice of
medicine and healthcare to include electronic health records (EHR’s) with
patient access to them through a website or patient portal. It will provide a connected,
interdisciplinary system with primary care practitioners at the forefront. Patients or health care consumers will carry
their own medical health information with portable devices called personal
health devices (PHD's) and will have control over dispersion of their health
information to their preferred provider.
Their PHD will have the latest health care information and be accessible
by any clinician with appropriate access (Koeniger-Donohue, & Hawkins,
2010).
Communications exist currently and will continue to increase
between healthcare providers and patients.
Health information technology can provide online teaching modules,
summary notes from each visit, consultations, and full access to lab work and
procedural results. In the more rural
areas of the country emerged the telehealth, telemedicine, and telenursing
through the increased technology and the need for care. Telehealth will become even more
sophisticated and more specialties will join this form of medicine (Koeniger-Donohue,
& Hawkins, 2010). The greatest
example of integrated healthcare is the conception and advancement of
telehealth and telenursing. Telehealth
is a combination of electronic information through telecommunications channels
that provide patient care long distance or remotely. Telenursing is utilizing telecommunications
to audit public health and consumer issues (Bickford, 2008).
Providers
Nurses with
informatics skill and knowledge will be instrumental in ensuring these products
and services are user friendly, beneficial to the patient/consumer, and
reputable. Nurses with informatics
knowledge can empower consumers to be partners with their physician and nurse
practitioner and collaborate to ensure their care is acceptable and meets their
comfort level. In the future nurses will
remain the largest group of health care providers as compared to physicians and
other multi-disciplinary personnel.
Nurses will be the cement that keeps the consumers in contact with their
healthcare providers and hospitals while emerging as the leaders in providing
care. Nursing informatics will be the
newest most essential role in the technology and health information movement. Nurses will continue to work to improve the
patient care environment and improve health outcomes (Koeniger-Donohue, &
Hawkins, 2010).
Nurses with informatics knowledge are current with the
technology that is being utilized they can navigate the web and assist
consumers in locating viable credible sources. They have blended their clinical
expertise with the advances in technology and information to create and
advocate for their patients well being.
Nurses with informatics education produce a unique knowledge base, shred
light to the core of nursing values and beliefs, and provide content and
clarity to a much-needed nursing language and the relationship between the
technological words as they correlate to health (Bickford, 2008).
Health care providers will be able to reach patients via
email communications and patient portals enjoying a flexible schedule. They can attach a note to their labwork
explaining the results and post it along with the results. Health IT will reduce the time spent
attempting to call a patient and ensure delivery of information is in a timely
manner. Patients will utilize the
self-scheduling program and choose a time of convenience to visit or
communicate with the physician. The utilization of a patient's PHD will allow
providers the ability to access critical information when there is an
emergency. It will be easy for emergency
room (ER) physicians and secure personnel to retrieve the necessary information
of critical ill or severely injured patients that arrive in the ER (Koeniger-Donohue,
& Hawkins, 2010).
Providers will all carry handheld mobile devices that can
alert providers to new consults, a map with the location of their patients and
the medical equipment needed for an examination. These new medical devices will have hand held
scanner, retinal scanners that download the image directly into the patient's
medical chart, patient portal and the attending physicians involved with the
patient's care (MicrosoftEurope, 2009).
Physicians will not
be the educator in the future, as they are currently but more of a health
advisor. Patients will come to visit the
practitioner with a baseline knowledge of their illness or prepared with
questions. Health care providers or
practitioners will act "to provide guidance, wisdom, knowledge, and
judgment as well as compassion, empathy, and communication," (Medscape,
Producer, 2012, pg.1). Meaningful Use
has created a lot of upheaval for healthcare organizations and now it has moved
from electronic records and centralized data banks to patient engagement. Patients, although craving to learn, need to
have resources available to ensure they comprehend the information they are
researching or reading via a patient portal.
They will need to sort through the data collected and ensure the sources
are current and accurate and guide their patients on the next step in their
treatment plan.
Physicians can collaborate with other health professionals
regarding health information or clinical research trials. It is similar to Skype but with better
visualization and maintained in a secure network (MicrosoftEurope, 2009).
Consumers
Consumers will have total
control over their healthcare with the use of their PHD and utilizing a patient
portal at their physician's office and /or their local hospital. They will make
appointments on line; send out inquiries to their practitioner, read notices
about health concerns readily displayed on the opening page of the patient
portal. A consumer's mobile device will
have secure applications that send and receive text message alerts for
medication reminders and scheduled appointments (MicrosoftEurope, 2009). Currently my pharmacy send me an email when
my prescription is ready for pick up saving me time and energy as I know it is
ready when I arrive.
If they have a health issue like asthma, they
can receive alerts from the National Weather Service when the air quality is
poor and they may need their rescue inhaler or they should avoid outdoor
activities all day. This would provide a
preventative measure to keep patients with known repetitive episodes from readmittance
to the hospital. Consumers can review
their care notes or summary plan, print out the information from their patient portal,
and take it to another provider for a second opinion. That second opinion provider can communicate
back and forth with the initial physician to collaborate further.
Consumers
are assured their health information is maintained through secure data sharing and
firewalls and mobile applications. They
can wear a watch that will monitor their exercise level, calories, and then
download it to a smart television or computer program (MicrosoftEurope, 2009). This is similar to the Fitbit health program
without the data sent securely to your provider. You can submit your fitness data to your
physician and schedule a review of your fitness plan.
Nurses have always been patient
advocates, consultants, and educators. Nurses with
informatics experience create a
unique niche in patient care with the aggregation of clinical expertise and
technology.
Healthcare
Healthcare
will have an enormous amount of technology embedded into every facet of patient
care. Every health care person will
carry a mobile hand-held device with his or her patient list and electronic
chart loaded and secured. Instead of a
simple computer screen there will be a walls of monitors with the capability to
see full size people in the conference call (MicrosoftEurope, 2009). Paper would be the anomaly as electronic
health records will be the only form of patient record storage with interactive
capabilities. There will be EHR-Extender capability, which expands the
functionality of the EHR with solutions for increasing alerts and improving
speed of communication. This offers a
"close-loop, context-aware clinical alerting and texting," (Beyond
the EHR, 2010, pg.2) keeping the nurses and doctors immediately updated with
texts and in the clinical and administrative databases.
With the
Meaningful Use Stage 1 and Stage 2 implementation, many hospitals have reduced
health information personnel to accomplish all these requirements. There is an estimated gap of fifty thousand,
health IT personnel in the next several years (Brino, 2012). A solution to some businesses is the implementation
of avatars or Chatbots (Miliard,
2012). These intelligent virtual
assistants (IVA's) will be utilized in the helpdesk capacity to answer
questions and direct hospital personnel with their small IT issues. They can be helpful assistants that will be
programmed to complete some of the smaller tasks in the technology arena. They can sit at the front desk and give out guest
visitor passes or direct guests to the location of their loved one. These Chatbots are commonplace in IKEA, and
airline industry and they can be formatted to a higher clinical role in the
healthcare environment.
Nurses
with informatics experience are at the center of integrated healthcare delivery. With integrated healthcare system information,
technology and clinical situations intersect for the benefit of patient care
and quality outcomes. Experienced
informatics nurses are involved with the design, development, and
implementation of many research projects that influence patient outcomes and
improve patient care (Bickford, 2008).
Globally
The International Council of
Nurses (ICN) has created policies to expand the knowledge of eHealth and the
progress made around the world. They
have annual meetings to discuss the planning of strategic goals, update on the
present work internationally and the future plans of ICN. This is a combination of international
nursing and information technology and the implementation of the eHealth
initiative because with healthcare radically changing the consumers are
expecting more from their healthcare providers and overall experience. EHealth "strengthens
nursing expertise, user participation, health cooperation and help develop
nursing practice for the benefit of the population," (eHealth bulletin,
2013, pg. 2).
Conclusion
There
will continue to be advancement in information technology and a greater demand
for nursing informatics. With more
federal requirements, ensuing nurses with the informatics training will be in
demand as their knowledge and expertise will benefit health consumers and
welfare of all people (Effken, & Abbott, 2009). Consumers will continue to demand healthcare
services with high quality and acceptance of patient autonomy, participation,
and full access to their health information.
Providers will need to accept the change of their paternalistic type of
medicine to one of collaboration and interaction because of health information
technology.
References
Bickford,
C. J. (2008). The scope of nursing
informatics practice. Nursing informatics. Silver
Spring, MD: American Nurses
Association
Beyond
the EHR: How to seamlessly connect nurses and physicians using an EHR -Extender
(EHR -e). (2010). Retrieved from
media/pdf/EXTENSION_WP_Beyond the
EHR_Final.2012.12.11.pdf
Brino, A. (2012, October 26). Nursing informatics
programs gaining ground. Retrieved
from
single-page=true
Effken, J. A., & Abbott,
P. (2009). Health it-enabled care for the underserved rural populations: The
role of nursing . Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association,
16, doi: 10.1197/jamia.M2971
eHealth
Bulletin. (2013, December).
Retrieved from http://www.icn.ch/images/stories/documents/news/bulletins/eHealth/ICN_eHealth_Bulletin_Dec_2013.pdf
Koeniger-Donohue, R., & Hawkins, J. W. (2010). The future of nursing and health care: Through the
looking glass 2030. Journal Of The American Academy Of Nurse Practitioners, 22(5).
doi:10.1111/j.1745-7599.2010.00506.x
Medscape. (Producer.) (2012). Topol: Consumer driven healthcare is an uncomfortable concept.
[Video]. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.medscape.com%2Fviewarticle%2F770587%3Fsrc%3Dptalk&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFY0FLwJct2oJ8LuagUvGkRjyKPyg
MicrosoftEurope. 2009. Future
vision of healthcare. [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWiuBK-_WY0
Miliard, M. (2012, October 2). Change agents: Will virtual
nurses and pocket health coaches improve patient engagement? Retrieved from http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/change-agents-will-virtual-nurses-and-pocket-health-coaches-improve-patient-engagement
