Healthcare Information Technology Trends Essay

In this Discussion, you will reflect on your healthcare organization’s use of technology and offer a technology trend you observe in your environment Healthcare Information Technology Trends Essay.

To Prepare:

• Reflect on the Resources related to digital information tools and technologies.
• Consider your healthcare organization’s use of healthcare technologies to manage and distribute information.
• Reflect on current and potential future trends, such as use of social media and mobile applications/telehealth, Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled asset tracking, or expert systems/artificial intelligence, and how they may impact nursing practice and healthcare delivery.

Post a brief description of general healthcare technology trends, particularly related to data/information you have observed in use in your healthcare organization or nursing practice. Describe any potential challenges or risks that may be inherent in the technologies associated with these trends you described. Then, describe at least one potential benefit and one potential risk associated with data safety, legislation, and patient care for the technologies you described. Next, explain which healthcare technology trends you believe are most promising for impacting healthcare technology in nursing practice and explain why. Describe whether this promise will contribute to improvements in patient care outcomes, efficiencies, or data management. Be specific and provide examples.

The use of telehealth has dramatically increased since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The need for social distancing to decrease the spread of the virus has impacted how we look at healthcare. Telehealth provides healthcare and health information through multiple technological systems such as the telephone, videophone calls, and the computer (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). Working in a cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU), our surgeons perform open-heart surgeries daily during the week. Some of these surgeries are urgent or emergent, and pre-operative workups can be done in the hospital or not at all. However, in most cases, our patients come in for surgery from getting an outpatient pre-operative workup. Most of their workup is now being done via telehealth appointments Healthcare Information Technology Trends Essay.

Often our patients are older and are not as up-to-date with the rapidly growing technologies being used more regularly. Telehealth poses a challenge for older patients who are either unable to use and understand the technology or do not have the technology to support the telehealth platforms. In a 2013 study looking at how the older population views telehealth technology, the participants expressed their personal health information being hacked or seen by unauthorized persons (Cimperman, Brenčič, Trkman, & Stanonik, 2013).

         Data breaches and the potential for unauthorized people to see personal health information is a considerable risk associated with telehealth. The 2013 study also mentioned that the older population’s primary resource for technological support is their family members, but most wanted their family to access limited health information (Cimperman, Brenčič, Trkman, & Stanonik, 2013). Since telehealth can provide so much health information such as test results and text messages to and from your physician, it can be risky to have that information exposed. However, having access to that information can also be viewed as a benefit. With telehealth, patients can real-time chat with medical staff, chat via phone or video chat, and use remote monitoring (Telehealth.hhs.gov, 2021). Telehealth is also very cost-effective and saves patients on travel time. Telehealth has changed significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, and new laws continue to change the way it functions. Recent laws now allow physicians to use more popular video chat applications such as Skype or Facebook Messenger video chat, making telehealth easier for some patients (Telehealth.HHS.gov, 2021).

         I believe the electronic health record (EHR) is the most promising for impacting healthcare technology in nursing practice. Having a patient’s health record in a digital format provides easy access for nursing staff to see previous health information and easily add new data to the patient’s chart for future reference. This way, health information is not as easily lost as it was with paper charting. Information can be shared instantaneously with multiple providers involved in the patient’s care. As a nurse, documenting and filing new data is much more organized and more accessible, allowing the nurse to spend more time at the bedside. Because of these reasons, having EHRs dramatically continues to improve patient care outcomes, efficiencies, and data management Healthcare Information Technology Trends Essay.

References

Cimperman, M., Brenčič, M. M., Trkman, P., & Stanonik, M. D. L. (2013). Older Adults’ Perceptions of Home Telehealth Services. Telemedicine and E-Health, 19(10), 786–790. https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2012.0272

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4^th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Telehealth.HHS.gov. (2021, May 19). What is telehealth? | Telehealth.HHS.gov. https://telehealth.hhs.gov/patients/understanding-telehealth/?gclid=CjwKCAjw_o-HBhAsEiwANqYhp11CR4OTX65JuJK3by8oakcNj0oBzZxgK_qQDXnumAA4DO0yGeMu5RoC90gQAvD_BwE

Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days, offering additional/alternative ideas regarding opportunities and risks related to the observations shared.