Archive for date: February 10th, 2015

In researching for this assignment, I came across two articles of interest, one that describes attitudes of geriatric individuals on mobile health technologies in association with warfarin therapy, and the other article sought to determine (through literature review), which telehealth methods were most effective for medication adherence and improving clinical outcomes (Granger & Bosworth, 2011; Lee et al., 2014). These telehealth methods include automated alerts sent through cellphone texting capability to remind patients to take their daily medications, refill reminders, nursing education audio-recorded and sent to patients, and digital medication reconciliation) (Granger & Bosworth, 2011). The reason that I wanted to read both articles is because when we talk about technology, which is easily accessible and somewhat simple to maneuver for many people, there are a few populations that we must consider as we move forward with these up-and-coming technological advancements in nursing education and patient support. 1) Our geriatric patients may be intimidated by unfamiliar technology and as mentioned in the article, require a great deal of support and positive reinforcement from both the healthcare professional and their family in order to be successful and consistent in using telehealth (such as cellphone automated alerts for medication administration reminders, etc.) (Lee et al., 2014). As nurses, we need to be conscientious of individual needs and remember that we feel the same way when we are trying to learn something new. 2) Low-income populations do not have the same access to technology that many of us take for granted; while medication adherence is a significant public health problem due to the prevalence of cardiovascular-related conditions such as uncontrolled diabetes mellitus and heart failure, individuals without financial means to even purchase their medications may not have the means to own an expensive phone to engage in some of the newer technology that improves medication adherence. Therefore, creativity is needed to reach out to both these populations. The best results in regards to medication adherence and improved clinical outcomes were those that combined mobile reminders and face-to-face interaction; methods that only used mobile phone reminders did not improve adherence or outcomes (Granger & Bosworth, 2011). Therefore, our challenge is to find the best way to help patients gain access both to personal care, and new technology such as automated medication reminders in order to improve their outcomes and quality of life; what is wonderful about nursing is that we can continue to practice in the best of both worlds by incorporating technology into our personal nursing care.

References:

Granger, B. B. & Bosworth, H. (2011). Medication adherence: Emerging use of technology, Current Opinions in Cardiology, 26(4), doi: 10.1097/HCO.0b013e328347c150

Lee, J., Nguyen, A. L., Berg, J., Amin, A., Bachman, M., Guo, Y., & Evangelista, L. (2014). Attitudes and preferences on the use of mobile health technology and health games for self-management: Interviews with older adults on anticoagulation therapy, JMIR Mhealth Uhealth, 2(3):e32, doi: 10.2196/mhealth.3196