NURS 6051 Discussion Healthcare Information Technology Trends
The use of computer technology in combination with telecommunication in healthcare has improved over the past couple of decades worldwide. The major applications of information systems (Health Information Technology, HIT) in healthcare include but are not limited to electronic healthcare records (EHRs), telehealth & telemedicine, wearable devices, machine learning & artificial intelligence, nano-medicine, personalized medicine, genome-based medicine, and patient portals. These trends have evolved from previous methods of healthcare information, management and practice systems.
General Healthcare Technology Trends
In my healthcare organization, the recording, storage, and retrieval of patients’ personal health records have improved from paper-based to electronic and hybrid health records. The process of monitoring the patient vitals has evolved with time such that the use of wearable devices has been more common and the use of portable monitors is so frequent as opposed to non-portable monitors. Clinicians frequently use smartphones and tablets to retrieve patient information and search the latest information related to health practice from internet sources. These trends in medical technology are concerned with data and information manipulation and usage in my health organization. Their application in healthcare has potential challenges and risks that if not regulated may interfere with patient care safety and efficiency.
Potential Benefits, Challenges and Risk Associated with Data Safety, Legislation, and Patient Care
Arguably, the modern ways of storing and retrieving patient information are associated with improved patient care efficiencies. There is increased portability of patient data that reduces the retrieval time (Symons et al., 2019). The usage of portable computers such as tablets makes data retrieval easy and possible anywhere within the practice. Most importantly, at the beside, clinicians can find the patient’s data regarding updated care and medications given so far (Dykes et al., 2017). Searching in the electronic databases for essential drug information can reduce the chances of adverse drug reactions due to drug-drug interactions.
However, the process of retrieving can be so easy that it can be applied inappropriately and this can jeopardize patient data safety and security (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). The sharing of patient information on social media can violate patient data confidentiality and privacy if not well regulated. Patient data privacy and confidentiality entail limiting access to patient information to an authorized third party without their consent. Even though clinicians may share this data with non-malicious intentions, the access and usage of this data by the unauthorized third party may violate the confidentiality of the discussion between the clinician and the patient. These actions may put the clinician at risk of ethical and legal violations.
Promising Trends in Future Healthcare Technology
The most promising future trends in healthcare information technology are wearable devices and telehealth. The usage of portable computers such as smartphones in healthcare will revolutionize healthcare by reducing the patient-clinician barriers while minimizing the cost of care. Patients will be at liberty to access care from their residences and can choose the clinicians they would want to attend to them. Wearable devices such as wearable blood pressure monitors and ECG trackers will enhance remote patient monitoring in the setting of the increasing patient to nurse/doctor ratio (Rao-Gupta et al., 2018). By limiting the care barriers, these technologies will improve the quality of care by reducing the overall cost and increasing access to this affordable care.
Conclusion
Health information technology incorporates various electronic and information systems into healthcare practice. There are potential benefits, risks, and challenges that accompany their uses. The overall benefits include improvement in health care quality through a reduction in costs of healthcare and chances of medical errors. However, there are concerns over patient data safety and security that need to proper mitigation strategies. While the promising trends in healthcare such as wearable devices and telemedicine would improve the quality, they may fail to address the ethical and safety concerns, hence the need for pragmatic interventions.
References
- Dykes, P. C., Rozenblum, R., Dalal, A., Massaro, A., Chang, F., Clements, M., Collins, S. …Bates, D. W. (2017). Prospective evaluation of a multifaceted intervention to improve outcomes in intensive care: The Promoting Respect and Ongoing Safety Through Patient Engagement Communication and Technology Study. Critical Care Medicine, 45(8), e806–e813. https://doi:10.1097/CCM.0000000000002449
- McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett
- Rao-Gupta, S., Kruger, D. Leak, L. D., Tieman, L. A., & Manworren, R. C. B. (2018). Leveraging interactive patient care technology to Improve pain management engagement. Pain Management Nursing, 19(3), 212–221.
- Symons, J., Ashrafian, H., Dunscombe, R., & Darzi, A. (2019). From EHR to PHR: let’s get the record straight. BMJ Open, 9(9), e029582. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-029582