ICT Revolutionizing Healthcare: Nurses' Perspectives - Essay Sample

Introduction

The introduction and implementation of information and communication technology in the healthcare sector is a trend that is gaining pace worldwide, as a product of the interaction of technical skills, socio-economic factors, culture and innovation within the working environment. These advancements enable efficient delivery of care to the patient and promote patient satisfaction in the event of long-term inpatient care. While nursing practitioners believe that these innovations have become an essential part of promoting their service delivery, there are underlying concerns aimed at ensuring the personal interactions with the patients are not replaced by technology. This is because patient care necessitates crucial interaction with patients. Therefore there is a need for integration of both aspects in the application of these technological innovations to achieve the ultimate goal of wholesome, efficient, patient care.

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In recent years, there has been the introduction of telemedicine, which involves the dissemination of medical services in conditions where distance is a major factor, with the use of information and communication technology (Ambrosino et al., 2016), in care for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is associated with notable morbidity and considerable time and cost constraint and I found that the use of telemedicine is a favorable intervention that provides for ease of patient monitoring and facilitates patient self-care by reducing and eliminating the need for constant hospital admission ( Amalakuhan and Adams, 2016). This is done by employing the use of various types of telemedicine systems. For example, interactive telemedicine offers real-time interaction between patient and doctor or nurse through videoconferencing and telephone communication.

Remote monitoring allows clinicians to check on the patient remotely through self-monitoring and self-testing systems combined with alarms, sensors, and spirometers (Hernandez, Mallow, and Narsavage, 2014). Another type of telemedicine system is store-and-forward telemedicine, which involves the conveyance of data concerning a disease, for example, medical images and vital signals to medical practitioners for evaluation. There is also provision for teleconsultation through video technology to send patient information and diagnostic data for assessment and diagnosis (Hernandez, Mallow, and Narsavage, 2014). This allows for direct feedback in communication between both parties, which I found to be essentially beneficial as the patient feels that they are receiving the same level of personalized care as they would have during a hospital visit.

One of the benefits of telemedicine is that conventional nursing practice is incorporated into technological innovations used in healthcare in response to the evolving needs and new clinical environment. The critical clinical reasoning and decision-making skills of nurses on this platform are supported by the computerized decision support systems (CDSS). These systems use algorithms and formulas to generate assessments and recommendations that are specific to a particular patient, thereby supporting reasoning and decision making of nurses and ultimately improving patient care (Barken, Thygesen and Soderhamn, 2017). Research shows that the use of the telemedicine platform by nurses to evaluate the alteration of health in a patient involves five stages. Firstly, the computerized decision support system makes recommendations and enables the nurses to identify the health problem through clinical reasoning. The system also clarifies the information to fit a particular patient and explain the reason behind the change in their health. Secondly, the collection of patient information and history in the electronic health records provides an efficient means for mapping of data, which is then combined to give a clear understanding of the progressing events. Finally, the data is interpreted, and a diagnosis is given, which is followed by the involvement of the patient in decision making to formulate solutions to the emerging problem ( Barken, Thygesen and Soderhamn, 2017). The nurse then advises and guides the patient regarding the direction of care to be followed. The patient has a chance to seek clarification and ask questions, thus expanding their knowledge on their condition and treatment.

It was established that the decision making could not entirely rely on the computerized decision support systems, and the nursed would occasionally override its recommendation in the event of serious negative changes in the patient's health because of the tendency of occurrence of inaccurate alerts. This was also the case in the event of technical errors and availability insufficient patient information on the system which was found to strain the nurses' decision making as more time was spent gathering additional information in order to be able to make accurate diagnosis especially in remote patient care (Barken, Thygesen and Soderhamn, 2017). Thus it is important for the system to be developed to reflect the real, evidence-based nursing expertise and practices for its efficient use of inpatient care.

Telehealth is also beneficial to the health care sector and nursing practice in that it participates in reducing the demand for existing healthcare services, decreasing the cost incurred for care, allowing for patient follow up and monitoring their adherence to the recommended treatment, identifying the changes in the health of the patient and being able to tell if the condition is worsening as well as enhancing accessibility of services even to remote areas (Vitacca, Montini and Comini, 2018). This is done through distant diagnosis based on spirometry tracing, teleconsultation, and telemonitoring of the patient's vital signals. These, coupled with patient education and remote chronic home interventions, were seen to improve patient satisfaction and outcome. In addition to this, the marked increase in patient understanding of their condition and treatment regimen promoted their adherence to the drug therapy and monitoring of symptoms in association with their home caregivers and nurses, thus resulting in a decrease in hospitalization (Vitacca, Montini and Comini, 2018). It is also worth noting that patients with severe symptoms, frequent exacerbations, and limited support from the community are the biggest benefactors of telemonitoring.

It is important to determine the correct devices to be applied in the delivery of remote access to health services. Mobile health applications are widely used by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients as a means to facilitate and improve their self-management with the observed decrease in hospitalization of these patients. They are thus an acceptable intervention for this purpose (Yang et al., 2018). These applications have proven to be highly effective in promoting self-care and change in lifestyle with regard to encouraging physical activity as compared to other modes of telemonitoring. The mobile applications do not have a learning curve and are thus easy to learn to use by nurses and patients as well as being more practical in daily use (Yang et al., 2018). They are also more advantageous to use as compared to other electronic devices as patients are more willing to use their mobile phones as it is simple, easy, reliable, and cost-effective.

The fact that more people are drawn to use their phones and are more widely accessible to the majority of the population, including patients, makes the use of mobile phone applications the most preferred intervention. It also has the highest probability of having a bearing on the patient's behavior, which is essential for adherence to the treatment regimen as well as promoting the much-recommended physical activity and recording their daily symptoms (Yang et al., 2018). It is, therefore, safe to state that self-management using mobile phone applications has a role in decreasing the rate of hospital admissions and improve the health status of the patients, ( Yang et al.,2018), as well improve the delivery of patient care by providing the sense of the constancy of care through regular interaction with the health service providers.

On the other hand, various setbacks are met with the implementation of telehealth, which derails its progression and adaptation in the health sector. One is the inability to adapt the strategy to suit the needs of each particular setting resulting in conflicts between the organization and sector-specific models. As a result, the practitioners available fail to prioritize this platform, treating it as a subsidiary to the services they offer and only adhering to it when they have time thus patients relying on this service end up not accessing the desired remote services, but have to present themselves physically to the hospital for medical attention (Segrelles-Calvo, Lopez-Padilla, de Granda-Orive, 2016). There is also a lack of leaders with vision and clinical expertise to campaign for improvement and servicing of the needs of telemedicine for better service provision.

It is important to note that there is a marked decrease in cognitive function in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients, especially with regard to memory and attention (Hernandez, Mallow, and Narsavage, 2014). As a result, it is recommended that there be the inclusion of daily and momentary alerts for patients in self-care to keep them in track with the treatment regimen and to continually update their symptoms as they arise for future reference and as a precautionary measure to improve their capability to manage their telemedicine treatment satisfactorily.

In order to improve the efficiency of service delivery through telemedicine, it is important to ensure that most features are easily adaptable by a majority of the people base on different demographic factors such as age, level of education, and socio-cultural background. There should be the implementation of the use of user-friendly devices with relatively easy protocols and the least possible investment of time for convenience and ease of use by all including the older people (Segrelles-Calvo, Lopez-Padilla, de Granda-Orive, 2016). This should be done in such a way that long, complicated steps are eliminated and substituted for simpler ones that can be conveniently maneuvered, especially by the patient, even when under distress and during an emergency.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I found that a vast majority of evidence supports the use of telemedicine in inpatient care. This mode of operation is beneficial as it ultimately leads to a reduction in the number of hospital admission, thus easing the demand for hospital services and health care workers. The savings accruing from the avoidance of unnecessary hospital visits are used to cover the costs of this intervention. There is also improved communication between health care professionals and patients, which increases their knowledge of their condition, enabling them to take a more involved approach in the management of their care. The patients also tend to be more involved in the decision making regarding their treatment and thus tend to be more responsible and welcoming of the necessary lifestyle changes. Furthermore, direct contact between the patient and the medical personnel enabled them to provide tele-counseling and continued care, which elicits a sense of security and satisfaction in the patient. Also, training of patients and caregivers to correctly input measurements and biological signals data significantly increases the efficiency of telemedicine by the provision of correct information necessary for diagnosis and monitoring progress of the patient (Segrel...