Information and communication technologies installed and applied in the health sector have significant benefits to inpatient nurses. The use of the various technologies promotes efficiency, safety and the quality of care for the patients. Despite the major benefits linked to the use of ICTs, its implementation remains a huge challenge. According to Fran Turisco and Jared Rhoads (2008), technological advancement in the health sector include wireless communications, real-time setting system, distribution robots, workflow administration systems, wireless patient nursing, electronic diagnosis management with bar code, electronic clinical recording and interactive patient system.
Wireless Communication: Although contacting other department such as pharmacy and laboratory in a health facility may seem easy, nurses spend a lot of time moving from one department to another to answer telephones. The poor workflow between nurses can be linked to the existence of different modes of communication that nurses answer to deliver information to other staffs. The emergence of Voice over Internet protocol technologies was a great move for nurses. Wireless communication technologies have enhanced point-to-point communication within a health facility improving the quality of care through reduced response time.
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Real-Time Location: As nurses provide health care, they need to integrate patients’ need with mobile health apparatus such as electrocardiogram monitors among others. For long time, nurses have spent a lot of time during their shifts searching for equipment situated in different units. This wastes a lot of time that could be used to deliver quality care to patients (Fran Turisco, & Jared Rhoads, 2008).’The emergence of real-time location system has played significant role in improving health care since through it, nurses can locate apparatus, patients and colleagues. The tags on the equipment communicate with the detectors and transmitters informing the nurse where it is located across the facility. The use of this technology is beneficial in that it helps nurses locate essential equipment if the need arises, patients and colleagues.
Delivery Robots: Many nurses have reported backaches as result of handling patients a lone. The emergence of delivery robots is a great relieve for nurses. Delivery robots play many responsibilities that nurses and other skilled members do. For instance, delivery robots can deliver medicine from the pharmacy, laboratory specimen, meal and linens to the nurse. The use of delivery robots has played a significant role in improving health care quality.
Evidence-based nursing play a significant role in the provision of high quality care. From the research, it is evident that there is great improvement of results when best evidence is employed by nurses in the delivery of client care (Bloomrosen & Detmer, 2017). Despite the great knowledge and understanding on the significance of evidence based nursing, reaching a satisfactory use of evidence based nursing in the health care facility is hard. It is evident that the coordination of evidence-based nursing into everyday nursing practices are still unreliable. Despite the challenges in the practicing of evidence based nursing, as a team, health care practitioners and the top management aim at providing quality care to patients. For instance, using the emerging technology, nurses deliver quality and sufficient health care to the patients.
The use of health informatics has highly facilitated the use of evidence based nursing in health care. These include but not limited to the use of computerized prompts and recaps to healthcare practitioners and patients and diagnostic assistance among others (Bloomrosen & Detmer, 2017). The emergence of health informatics has facilitated research and development in the health sector in an attempt to facilitate and develop new evidences. Today, health system is characterized by constant learning and advancement and development of new methods that swiftly create, use and appraise evidence through a shared responsibility.
- Bloomrosen, M., & Detmer, D. (2017). Informatics, evidence-based care, and research; implications for national policy: a report of an American Medical Informatics Association health policy conference. Retrieved 23 March 2017, from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3000781/
- Fran Turisco, & Jared Rhoads. (2008).’Equipped for Efficiency: Improving Nursing Care Through Technology. California HealthCare Foundation
