General healthcare technology trends
General healthcare technology trends
- Reflect on the Resources related to digital information tools and technologies.
- Consider your healthcare organization’s use of healthcare technologies to manage and distribute information.
- Reflect on current and potential future trends, such as use of social media and mobile applications/telehealth, Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled asset tracking, or expert systems/artificial intelligence, and how they may impact nursing practice and healthcare delivery.
By Day 3 of Week 6
Post a brief description of general healthcare technology trends, particularly related to data/information you have observed in use in your healthcare organization or nursing practice. Describe any potential challenges or risks that may be inherent in the technologies associated with these trends you described. Then, describe at least one potential benefit and one potential risk associated with data safety, legislation, and patient care for the technologies you described. Next, explain which healthcare technology trends you believe are most promising for impacting healthcare technology in nursing practice and explain why. Describe whether this promise will contribute to improvements in patient care outcomes, efficiencies, or data management. Be specific and provide examples.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Healthcare Technology
There are several general technology trends that stand out in the healthcare organization. One of them is the shift towards the use of cloud in the storage of data. The hospital has been using modern technology for a while in managing the data but has mostly used physical server located within the facility. However, in the recent past, it has increasingly focused on cloud as its preferred method of data storage. Another trend to note is telemedicine. The hospital has been at the forefront in promoting the use of telemedicine where patients can get medical services without having to physically visit the medical facility. With only a smartphone, the hospital has been able to work with various telemedicine apps developers to come up with solutions that make telemedicine including sharing the medical information more convenient and effective.
These technologies are based on the internet and the ability to share information through it. A standout risk that is associated with the use of the internet is data safety (NasserH.Zaied, Elmogy & Abd Elkader, 2015). Internet sources and especially cloud-based data storage is far more vulnerable to hacks and cyber ware attacks than data stored in physical servers especially when using those cloud storage providers that are not established. The same is true with the telemedicine apps were data on the patient can be stolen. Recent reports show that medical records are worth more to hackers than even the credit card information showing just how high the threat to internet-based data sharing is (NasserH.Zaied, Elmogy & Abd Elkader, 2015). This shows the huge challenges of making the trends secure
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An obvious benefit from the technologies is that when cloud storage is provided by top providers such as Apple then the data is highly secure. A risk is that almost all systems even from the best providers are open to possible hacks. Therefore, the medical records from the patients can end up in the hands of criminals that can use it for purposes that can harm the patients. On Legislation, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 has been of benefit as it provides strict guidelines on the approaches to follow in ensuring that patient medical records are secure (Mintzer, 2018). However, a risk is that the legislation can sometimes be cumbersome resulting in slower implementation of Information technology and increased cost. On patient care, cloud based storage and telemedicine ensure easier storage and communication which makes the provision of care more effective and easier. It also can result in cost savings which can be passed to the patients making care more affordable. However, a risk with patient care and especially with telemedicine is that it can result in poor services offered because the doctors do not have a chance to physically assess the patient.
Cloud storage is very effective and easy to access information and is likely to be impactful on the nursing practice. Nurses need to access medical information on issues such as patient identity and prescription easily to ensure that they provide the best care (NasserH.Zaied, Elmogy & Abd Elkader, 2015). Cloud storage will ensure that this is possible and therefore increase the speed of care as well as reduce possible cases of mistakes when information is not readily available. Cloud storage is likely to result in efficiency as medical professionals will have better information availability (Englander, 2018). The patient records will be simultaneously available to the right staff members at all times meaning that they all can be able to locate and process information better. For example, prescription data stored on the cloud can be accessed by the nurse and the pharmacists at the same time meaning that the drugs will be made ready for the nurse to pick and give to the patient.
References
Englander, L. (2018). Telehealth and Digital Technology. Telehealth And Medicine Today, 1(1). doi: 10.30953/tmt.v1.62
Mintzer, S. (2018). Potential Benefits and Harms of HIPAA. JAMA, 320(22), 2379. doi: 10.1001/jama.2018.17179
NasserH.Zaied, A., Elmogy, M., & Abd Elkader, S. (2015). Electronic Health Records: Applications, Techniques and Challenges. International Journal Of Computer Applications, 119(14), 38-49. doi: 10.5120/21139-4153
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