Digital Technology in Healthcare

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Digital technology is increasingly playing an important role in facilitating the delivery of patient care, with everything from electronic health records to phone applications that allow health care providers to quickly research a disease or look up side effects to a new diabetic medication, for example.  As someone that embraces technology, I have always incorporated it into my nursing career.  As a nursing student, I always had my drug guide, lab book, and Taber’s Encyclopedia—among other applications—on my smart phone for easy access which saved time, especially during clinical rotations, and significantly reduced my stress level.  Currently, I use several mobile applications, including epocrates, to help manage and educate my Hepatitis C patients and ensure my warfarin patients maintain therapeutic INR levels.

There are, however, drawbacks to the new digital era, such as ineffective staff training regarding new electronic health records and equipment. In 2011, a nurse, who misunderstood a confusing pop-up on a new glucometer, accidentally administered insulin to a hypoglycemic patient, causing the patient to go into a diabetic coma (Rice, 2014).  In 2013, a hospitalized patient did not receive his psychiatric medication for three weeks, as the computer system was programmed to discontinue certain medications after a predetermined time (Rice, 2014).   These examples point to the importance of effective staff training, given different individual learning curves and willingness to adapt to change. Rice (2014) suggests the implementation of a national surveillance system for reporting technological problems to help other healthcare providers learn from previous experiences, which would result in better integration of new technologies.  Despite these setbacks, it is crucial to adapt to the digital era, as digital technology will continue to flourish and impact the medical field in the years to come.

Reference:

Rice, S. (2014). New medical technology poses safety problems if users not trained properly. Modern Healthcare. Retrieved   from http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20140816

 

 

Digital Technology and Healthcare Blog

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Digital Technology and Healthcare

Digital technology will eventually serve healthcare providers and clients as a communication abridge allowing consumers to get healthcare when and where they need it regardless of distance. Digital technology will help increase the client’s participation in their healthcare by closing communication gaps between clients and providers. Digital technology will help healthcare providers focus on the needs of the client while improving care and ultimately reducing cost. Digital technology can be intimidating but the benefits are great for client care and increase satisfaction allowing clients to better manage their own health. Digital technology will give clients more autonomy to manage their health while still having the support and guidance of experienced healthcare providers. New mobile health technology is emerging so quickly that client privacy and security are of great concern to both clients and healthcare providers. It is imperative these concerns be resolved before the implementation of new technology.

Many healthcare professionals believe digital technology has impacted the nursing profession in many ways and will continue to bring about changes in the delivery of care. Digital technology impacts the future of nursing because healthcare providers such as nurses must keep up with the new technological advances if they want to continue to practice in the healthcare profession. Technology may drive older nurses who are not technology driven into another profession or early retirement. Adaptation to new technology may be challenging and intimidating cause anxiety and fear in healthcare providers. The healthcare system is rapidly moving towards a technology driven era. In the near future healthcare providers will be forced to use more technology than in the past years or even months.

Technology relates to assessment in multiple ways. With modern technology it will be possible to monitor clients at home for longer periods of time without having to admit them into a clinic or hospital. Technology will change the form and location client assessment is performed. Having the ability to monitor the clients in the home sitting can provide better and more accurate information for the diagnosis and treatment of curtain medical conditions. For instance in clients with A-fib, 30 day EKG monitoring can be useful for the detection of this condition. Early detection of health problems may decrease the cost of care and suffering for clients. With the new technological advances it is realistic to consider mobile technology as part of the client’s plan of care. Technology will surely impact the way healthcare providers manage the clients care at home. The use of text messages for negative test results, electronic prescribing and electronic patient records will improve care, allowing health professionals to spend more time with each client, thus saving money. One meta-analysis reviewed several trials and reported overall modest evidence that text messaging has a positive impact on self-management and outcomes in conditions such as diabetes, asthma, and hypertension (Dicianno, Parmanto, Fairman, Crytzer, Yu, Parmana, Coughenour, Petrazzi, 2015).

Health care is growing increasingly complex, and most clinical research focuses on new approaches to diagnosis and treatment. In contrast, little effort has been targeted at the perfection of operational systems, client and medical safety. If medicine is to achieve major gains in quality, it must be transformed, and technology will play a key part, especially with respect to patient safety. Patient safety should be assured by extensive testing before implementation or placement into practice. Patient safety will continue to be assured with the reporting of glitches and continued testing of newly implemented technology.

The current research addressing the impact of mobile technology in client care focuses on healthcare outcomes, cost efficiency and accessibility. One of the biggest benefits reported by research of mobile health is time management. Physicians using mobile technology to treat clients, are finding more time in their day to help additional clients by limiting in-person office visits for when they’re absolutely necessary. The use of mobile health also allows instant access to a client’s Electronic Health Records. In selected facilities physicians are utilizing a mobile app, called eVisit, to facilitate online interactions with clients. Once a client has signed in to the hospital’s client portal and completed a questionnaire concerning their complaints, physicians can respond within minutes to provide care. If a prescription is required, the order can be submitted electronically to the client’s pharmacy.

Pros for using mobile technology include the ability of healthcare professionals to have access to multiple sources of data, including their clients’ activities over extended time periods. Mobile technology strives to be able to change the quality of public health care in general. For example, mobile tools can be used by diabetics in the management of their disease, thus changing the outcome and improving health. Better management of the disease can result in lower hospitalization rates for diabetic clients. Another benefit of mobile health is financial. Analysts suggest that the new mobile technology could save the health industry and its clients billions of dollars annually. Digital medical records allows healthcare providers to view the clients past medical history electronically. Digital medical records allows healthcare providers to monitor and trend labs, vitals, and visits to other healthcare providers, thus providing the client with better services and ultimately resulting in better outcomes. Mobile technology may soon become more available for use making it more affordable and convenient to both healthcare professionals and clients. Cons to the use of mobile technology include healthcare providers concern regarding overwhelming amounts of data to be assessed. A major concern for both clients and healthcare professional includes the loss of security and privacy of client information as well as the accuracy of the data obtained. Another major obstacle and concern will be the integration of technology into provider systems and its correct utilization.

Technology is being integrated into the hospitals and is being used daily to provide clients with health education. Hospitals utilize electronic discharge orders and education of admitting diagnosis and medications. Electronic technology is also being used to send medication orders directly to client’s pharmacy. Health technology is all around. Most smart phones can now be used to download applications related to healthcare. The provided article discussed some of the recent medical advances in digital technology including ambulatory EKG monitoring, PATRICIA and ear bud innovation for exercise. Mobile health applications promise both improvements in the quality of medical services and financial savings. Mobile health is still in the developmental stages, and it has some glitches to overcome. The integration of mobile health technology is inevitable, it is only a matter of when it will be implemented. Healthcare providers would be wise to embrace the new technology as it promises to facilitate and optimize client health.

Resources

Dicianno, E, B., Parmanto, B., Fairman, D. A., Crytzer, M. T., Yu, X. D., Parmana, G., Coughenour, D., Petrazzi, A. A. (2015). Perspectives on the evolution of mobile (mHealth) technologies and application to rehabilitation. American Physical Therapy Association. 95(3). DOI: 10.2522/ptj.201 30534

 

 

Digital Technology & Healthcare

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I think digital technology in the field of healthcare is great. It has allowed researches to gain a lot of insight on health issues such as mental health, academic performance, and behavioral trends. Computers process the information in a clear, organized way and it has saved a tremendous amount of time on the researchers’ part.
Abnormal heart rhythms are another area where technology has come a long way in, specifically atrial fibrillation. Many people have died due to clots resulting from AF. Now we have pacemakers and defibrillators that continuously report data to help diagnose and understand this condition better. According to results from a Canadian randomized clinical trial, patients who wore ambulatory EKG monitors for 30 days had better outcomes because AF was diagnosed five times more frequently in those patients vs. those who underwent conventional 24hr testing.
Technology has improved and saved many lives. It allows us to share information more easily in a matter of seconds. If I’m missing an H&P or if I need orders, I can call the doctor and they can just log on from where they’re at and I’ll get it in a couple minutes. Technology is also wonderful when it comes to patient education. More and more doctors’ offices and hospitals use tablets now in addition to one on one teaching to show patients where they can obtain more info on disease process and other support websites. Technology is here to stay so nurses need to jump on board.

Digital technology in healthcare

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After reading Digital Trends In Nursing, I was surprised to learn about some of the advancements in healthcare, sensors attached to smartphones that can assess a person’s mental health, academic performance, and behavioral trends, an app dubbed PATRICIA that can assist veterans with PTSD, iPhone’s turned into portable EKG monitors, and ear buds that are not only used to hear music but they also record heart rate, calories burned, total energy expenditure, and maximum oxygen consumption. These are only a few advancements tech companies are currently working on. I read an article that mentioned a digital health company that is located in California and London and is currently developing a sensor for medications that is activated by digestive juices when taken by mouth (Morrissey, 2015). This sensor will be both ingestible and digestible (Morrissey, 2015). After this sensor is activated, it is suppose to transmit information to a skin patch, which then sends the information to an app on a smart phone device (Morrissey, 2015). Healthcare providers can then access this information to see if a person has been compliant with taking their medications (Morrissey, 2015). With the Affordable Care Act and the federal government providing incentives for healthcare providers to go digital; It should be of no surprise that technology is now transforming healthcare (Lee, 2013). Tech companies are now finding ways to make their innovations compatible with smartphones, which the majority of society already owns. Nurses will need to be up-to date with technology in order to properly educate patients on these advancements in a hospital setting, doctor’s office, and at home. In the hospital I work in patients are being taught how to access their health records at home via mobile devices. The plus side to all these innovations is being able to obtain individual data that can help with assessing and properly diagnosing a patient. It all sounds great. These advancements will provide individual patient centered care and I can see an increase of nurses working in home health versus a hospital setting in the near future. Patient’s will no longer need unnecessary test or have to be admitted into a hospital for monitoring that can be done at home using your mobile device. This new technology could help save money in healthcare cost and improve a person’s health by detecting certain diseases early, but at what price? Are they safe? To some degree a person’s privacy will be affected. Someone will have access to every place you go, what you eat and what activities you do. It reminds me of the 1993 movie Demolition Man staring Sylvester Stallone and Sandra Bullock. As I was watching this movie I remember, thinking when will we have this type of technology? It all seemed far-fetched. Now I can see myself utilizing this technology in the near future. All this technology is in the early and experimental stages (Lee, 2013). I don’t believe anyone knows the long terms effects these advancements will have on a person? Only time will tell. Until then many tech companies are will continue to find innovated ways for patients to be monitored at outside the hospital setting with incentives being dollar signs, lowering healthcare cost and making individualized patient centered care.

Reference

Lee, E. (2013). 5 ways technology is transforming health care. Forbes.            Retrieved from:http://www.forbes.com/sites/bmoharrisbank/2013/01/24/5-ways-technology-is-transforming-health-care/

Morrissey, J. (2015). The medical technologies that are changing health care. Hospitals &Health Networks. Retrieved from:http://www.hhnmag.com/  Magazine /2015/Apr/cover-medical-technology

Digital Technology and Healthcare

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I found it both interesting and a little overwhelming at the numbers of apps out there for nurses and other medical professionals. The increased use of technology in nursing impacts us in many ways. The time invested in learning new software takes away from hands on care in hopes that it will eventually allow us to make better use of our time and ultimately patient care will benefit. Unfortunately, many of the newer charting systems seem geared more toward those things that increase hospital reimbursement and not with the nurse’s workload in mind. While these technological advances should make charting easier and less time consuming, I do not hear nurses saying how much more they have for hands on patient care. Some of the electronic charting has alerts set up that are routinely ignored by the nurse due to redundancies in the software. It is difficult to imagine working without the technology that we now have. With drug resources, lab values, assessment data, and clinical procedures all available on hand held electronic devices we definitely have an advantage and opportunity to increase the quality of care. On the other hand, do these resources make us less available to our patients? It seems like the more technology we have available, the more we are expected to do. So, do we really have more time for patient care and what is the quality of that care?
A study done by Free et al. (2013) on the effects of mobile technology using text messaging to patients using ARTs and smoking cessation programs supports that these types of interventions can increase adherence. Health-care providers need effective ways to encourage “health-care consumers” to make healthy lifestyle choices and to self-manage chronic diseases. The amount of information, encouragement and support that can be conveyed to individuals during face-to-face consultations or through traditional media such as leaflets is limited, but mobile technologies such as mobile phones and portable computers have the potential to transform the delivery of health messages (Free et al., 2013).
My only experience with technology and patient education is on a personal level. My husband is a diabetic and has an app suggested by his primary care provider. The app allows him to track blood glucose levels, insulin administration, carb counting, and exercise. He used is religiously when it was first introduced but the frequency decreased over time. His feelings were that it was too time consuming and he could not see the benefit from it.

Free, C., Phillips, G., Galli, L., Watson, L., Felix, L., Edwards, P.,…Haines, A. (2013). The effectiveness of mobile-health technology-based health behavior change or disease management interventions for health care consumers: A systematic review [Supplemental material]. PLOS Medicine, , . doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001362

September 6, 2015 Theoharis Chapter 1

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There are three thoughts that struck me as I read the this text. First, I was impressed (and also personally challenged) by the boldness of principal Janice as described in the final paragraph of page 21. She definitely was leading by example and commitment. She used her leadership team to develop the plan and then clearly supported their decisions. She was clear that everyone on staff needed to be a part of the team. Second, I agreed with the assertion on page 18 that there is a need to keep in mind the social construction of disabilities so that we can collectively work towards a more “asset-based” way of educating special needs students. Third, based on my personal experience, I initially strongly disagreed with research finding on page 19 which said, “…placing students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms had no impact on amount or disruption of instruction time.” However, the inclusion model I experienced did not follow the models that were presented in the chapter…not even remotely. After reading the quote by Donna Hooper on page 32 I found my mind significantly open to greater possibilities. Wouldn’t it be great to stop worrying if this student or that student should be in our classroom, and instead learn to co-teach and differentiate better?! I think the goal and vision are important.

September 6, 2015 SMITH Chapter 1

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There is a powerful paragraph which begins at the bottom of page 32 and continues to page 33. It contains a perspective from Edgar Schein about organizational culture and change within. I believe there is still much work to do in the area of discrimination and institutional change, however, I also strongly believe we need to work from a positive standpoint, recognizing strengths and make decisions, comments and changes from a ‘building’ perspective rather than a ‘tear-down’ and reconstruct position. Sometimes it’s more about developing leadership practices, rather than characteristics.  We can build using the existing cultural strengths within an organization. I believe this principle can work in institutions from the family, to a school, to a large corporation, to a country.

One thing I found interesting was the concept of ‘critical mass’ and it caused me to reflect on the experience of my children being raised in an area where our community, by choice, not mandate, was approximately 30% black, 30% caucasian, 30% latino, and 10% asian. It seemed to work. The reading also caused me to reflect on the pressure and stress that successful members of minority groups might feel in the process of their achievement as they carry the weight of eliminating perceived stereotypes by their performance. There is danger in using a preconceived notion about a group of people to judge an individual and there is also danger in using an a perception about an individual to judge a entire group of people. Unfortunately, some of the policies and practices designed to address diversity have inadvertently added to the negative perception of ‘tokenism’.

Introduction

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Hello!

My name is Victoria Watkins. I have been married to my best friend for just over 8 years, and he is my everything.  I graduated from Moorpark Community College in December of 2013 and started my nursing journey in the Emergency Room at Providence Little Company of Mary in June 2014.  I am currently continuing my education at CSUCI and my husband is continuing his education at CSUDH; eventually I want to get a masters in nursing and probably go into education, whereas my husband is working towards his doctorate in business.  Right now I am focusing on my bachelors degree and career certifications; by the end of 2016 I plan on having my MICN (mobil intensive care nurse), TNCC (trauma nursing core course), and CEN (certified emergency nurse) certification.  When the books are closed and the computers are shut off, my husband and I enjoy spending time with family and friends.  We enjoy hiking, going to disneyland, and exploring all that Southern California has to offer.

 

Hello!

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Following Brittany I would also like to say hello to everyone and I hope you are having a nice weekend/break.

Here is a picture of a cat consuming media…

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Project #3

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As Kerry Dirk mentions in Navigating Genres, “when a situation is repeated, the prior responses are incorporated into that person’s response and follow this form for the responses to follow, therefore creating a new genre” (Dirk 252). This doesn’t mean genres can’t adapt or change, but it does mean that they all start from one response that is mimicked in all future responses. When society saw it fit to establish emergency response units, someone set the standard of how communication should take place within that community, thus establishing the genre. Today that genre still exists and is even more specific than before. With multiple different types of emergency response units, each have a slightly different genre under the overall umbrella of the emergency response community. The fire service community is one part of that community that has developed a very specific genre within its discourse community.

Scan 3

Dirk goes on to state, “once a recurring situation is recognized, responses to that situation can be guided by past responses” (Dirk 252). Fire fighter call logs have taken a form that is specific to their genre for this reason. After analyzing so many different situations in the the past, their discourse community has come up with the most effective way of documenting emergency call logs that follow a specific format. This basic format is followed by everyone in the community and has multiple different aspects. First off, the call log is headed by what type of problem that is being reported, whether it’s a medical aid, structure or wild land fire, or an unknown problem. It continues to provide information about the dispatcher receiving the call, their name, and the priority of the call. The highest priority is priority one, which means there’s an immediate need for emergency personnel, and moves down in rank based on the nature of the call. Records and notes of the call the dispatcher receives is what follows next and he or she does their best job to note as much relevant information. This is important for recording keeping, but also in providing the emergency response crews as much information about the scene they are going to as possible. In addition, the notes that are taken must best done so in a timely manner and the use of abbreviations and acronyms are commonly used. For example, the abbreviation VEH is used to refer to a vehicle, where ADV is used to refer to the word advised or advised that. Furthermore, the address of where the call originated from, as well as the location to where firefighters are responding to are present on the call log. Lastly, every call log has an incident number associated with it in order to reference that call and for fire personnel to use when completing an incident report form once they’ve returned from the call.

Scan 2

Incident report forms are completed for every call firefighters respond to. They contain the basic information, such as date and time, up to very specific information. These reports must be completed in full with the most amount of detail as possible. Each incident report will include the incident number and either the fire Captain or Chief that was present at the scene. Furthermore, it does outline who responded to the call, such as certain departments, especially if there is more than one. However, different fire departments can have different incident report forms. All follow the basic outline that is apart of their genre in the fire service, but may report on different aspects to which they responded to. For example, departments in the foothills of a forest will have a different incident report than departments that deal primarily with inner cities. The department near the forest will focus on wild land fires and their report will be more directed to the concern of fighting wildfires. Their reports can include terrain types, types of fuel such as brush or trees and what kind of vegetation they are. In addition, they can include the cause of the fire with regards to it being a fire caused by lightening, arson, or smoking just to name a few. They also will include the type of resources that was assigned to combat the fire. This can include different type of trucks, whether hand crews were used or not, or if there was any kind of aerial support. While departments that operate mainly in cities or urban environments will include some of the same aspects in their reports such as officer in charge, the location, and maybe even the type of equipment that was used one scene, their incident reports will include slightly different information. Since majority of calls to the fire department are medical aid calls, they will have more emphasis on the medical conditions that were possibly treated. They also include the reason for the call, if it was medical aid or if it was a structure fire or possibly an alarm sounding.

Scan

 

Works Cited

City of Golden, Colorado. “Fire Incident Report.” Web.

http://sitetools.cityofgolden.net/files/wildfirereport.pdf

Dirk, Kerry, “Navigating Genres.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. Eds. Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky. Parlor Press, 2010. 249-262. Web. http://writingspaces.org/essays.

Weinstein, Adam. “911 Call Log.” 29 July 2014. Web.

http://gawker.com/911-call-logs-past-legal-cases-add-new-details-to-prof-1612696037

Williamsburg Fire Department Incident Report. Web.

http://xls.control3.net/r/run-sheet-williamsburg-fire-department-e800.html