How Technology Changed The Face Of Nursing
No workplace has uncivilized the touch of technology, including nursing. Nursing is still, and will always be, a field where technology has had a huge impact on the way that nurses do their job. While some of the technological advances have made the nurse ' s job easier, others have been implemented as a price saving measure, and still others are used to improve patient safety.
Like those in other industries, nurses are often reluctant of using new technologies. With the desire to remain within the process they are known with, nurses are often unwillingly pulled into newer technologies. Such most others, once they become close with new technology, they increase to alike it. One side effect of the new technological advancements in healthcare is the increase in jobs related to the field. Before ultrasounds, there was no need for someone trained to perform them. Respiratory therapy, nuclear medicine and many other branches of healthcare have created new jobs by the advancement of technology.
Improvements in medical care
Advancements in technology have lead to fitter healthcare and patient care. Before the development of electronic IV monitors and IV pump infusions, anyone who admitted an IV had it administered underneath the watchful eye of a nurse. Since manual IVs were susceptible to stopping or flowing too rapidly, a nurse remained by the patient ' s side every time they proverbial an IV. When you consider how common IVs are, it is easy to see how much time is saved with the electronic IV observer.
All nurses are close with the sphygmomanometer. This is the specialist name for a blood pressure cuff. Having an electronic blood pressure cuff that also records the patient ' s heart beat is stereotyped one of the greatest time saving tools that technology has brought to nursing.
Technologies selfsame as ultrasound and sonograms have inured the medical community the ability to case inside of the human body and see likely babies and cancerous tumors. While a nurse does not perform or read the ultrasounds and sonograms, their effect has touched the nursing community by allowing more invasive diagnostic procedures to fall by the wayside.
Improvements in information management
As important as nursing care is for the patient, it is only one part of the nurse ' s job. The nurse is culpable for maintaining an accurate enter on each patient subservient her care. While many hospitals remain to use pen and paper charting, technology can make the log keeping process less burdensome. There are computerized programs available for medication dispensing, hospital tenure and insurance and payment programs. Patient records can be maintained in a computerized database which allows the physician, nurse or other medical expert to pull up the patient ' s medical history in seconds. Portable computing equipment allows the nurse to refurbish the information on the fly, moderately than at the end of each shift. Internet access allows medical personnel to have instant access to databases to search for symptoms and drug interactions.
Reducing the risk of mistakes
Computerized drug management software reduces the chances of a patient receipt the wide drug, or being disposed two drugs that should not be prone together. Portable defibrillators only work when they are needed and properly profitable. Many of the improvements in technology are aimed at reducing the risk of errors and mistakes that can lead to injury or death. This not only makes the hospital a safer distance for patients, but helps ease the stress nurses and other medical professionals are underneath.
Technology and the nurse
As the nursing field becomes more specialized, the need for nurses that are well-to-do with new technology will only increase. While many of the therapies for disease involve drugs, a growing number accommodate medical devices. Technology is focused on the healthcare industry right now for a variety of reasons. Lush drug interactions of approved drugs have made more healthcare development firms review at device development as a safer and less litigious area of development.
The growing needs for medical care and the shortage of healthcare workers also drive the development of new technology. Innovations that make it possible for a nurse to perform duties more efficiently, or allow them to hand over duties to an aide or administrative personnel increases efficiency and increase the number of patients that can be cared for with the alike number of nurses.
The desire to reduce mistakes that can engender harm to the patient also drive the development of technology. Devices that have built in safeguards that prevent misuse are one example of this technology. In many highly computerized hospitals, a patient cannot be dispensed the unjustifiable medicine, thanks to the computer checks current medications the patient is currently taking, and the patient ' s diagnosis, before allowing the medication to be removed from the pharmacy. If the doctor wants the medicine, he must manually override the system.
While no thing can totally remove the pressure of working as a nurse, many gifted solutions have made the job much more manageable. While the learning curve is often steep, the savings in time and worry are your compensation.
