Current Information and Communication Technologies

With so much attention focused on health care reform, it is important that nurses be given the opportunity to use high-quality technology tools. These tools can increase access to vital medical information, promote effective communication among health care professionals, and improve the patient experience. By actively seeking out and adopting these tools, nurses can greatly enhance the quality and safety of care that they provide.

This Discussion focuses on identifying quality technology tools that increase the ability of nurses to provide safe, effective care.

To prepare:

• Review the various technology tools described in this week’s Learning Resources.
• Identify a recently adopted information, education, or communication technology tool in your specialty area. Reflect on how it is used and how its use impacts the quality of care.
• Consider how your identified technology tool might impact nursing practice if it were more widely used. What are some barriers preventing increased usage? How could wider implementation be facilitated?

Readings

• American Nurses Association. (2015). Nursing informatics: Scope & standards of practice (2nd ed.).Silver Springs, MD: Author.
  • “The Future of Nursing Informatics”
• McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2012). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
  • Chapter 14, “Improving the Human-Technology Interface”

    This chapter describes the human-technology interface and explores some of the problems that result from its usage. The author also reflects on methods for improving the interface.

  • Chapter 19, ”Telenursing and Remote Access Telehealth”

    This chapter explores the usage of telehealth in nursing practice. The authors examine the role of telehealth, along with potential issues that may arise in its usage.

• Brewer, E. P. (2011). Successful techniques for using human patient simulation in nursing education. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 43(3), 311–317.
  Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.