Application Adoption New Technology Systems

Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner
Electronic patient information has witnessed a gradual rise in usage. Several factors need to be considered before establishing an electronic patient information system in a medical centre. Due to the fact that nurses take the lead in number as regards the professional use of this novel technology, there needs to be a well-defined strategy which will help train and educate nurses on the establishment and use of electronic patient information as a part of the general implementation procedure. To prepare the nurses ahead of this impending establishment of the novel electronic health information system and to train them on the novel EHR process, basic actions in line with this new technology like the provision of basic computer training and on-site help during implementation as well as making sure an adequate number of devices are present are crucial. Furthermore, change management processes are important as well with examples like: managing expectations, ensuring several channels of communication are present, carrying medical personnel and opinion leaders existing within working and design groups along and integrating the basic rules of adult education. Whenever change management and technical factors are both integrated into the plan, then the possibility of the success of its establishment and operation will rise considerably. The heath industry is gradually developing and improving its methods of public service delivery. This move is caused by a diverse number of reasons such as changing consumer expectations and needs, financial limitations, restricted human resources and the importance of continuous, excellent improvement as well as system integration. For the suggestion regarding the training of the nurses, a process needs to be created and this should be focused on the training of electronic information systems like the electronic patient information (Hirji, Cockerill, Jadad, & Marafioti, 2010).
The latest technologies are majorly focused on improving health care quality, solving workforce issues and lowering the cost of healthcare. It is generally known that a major problem associated with innovations generally, for example, those focused on clinical or technological guidelines is; the specialists are not able to apply them as specified by their inventors. This leads to a huge percent of patients not enjoying the full healthcare potential of these innovations. Every innovation has specific interventions, programs and instructions which are new to the involved organization or individual. This can be attributed to the fact that most models are developed from the integration of Innovations theory of Rogers (Rogers, 2010). Irrespective of some little differences, every model would follow the same basic planning procedure in which all innovations are implemented methodologically so as to ensure maximum success. Equally, a defined innovation strategy needs to be modified in line with the factors which improve or hold back the planned innovation process (Hirji, Cockerill, Jadad, & Marafioti, 2010).
When educating these nurses on the new improvements offered by the innovations, they must be made to understand the ways the new innovations follows the existing values. The importance of compatibility refers to the ways an innovation follows previous ideas, popularly demanded services and present beliefs and values. As regards simplicity, the nurses need to believe that the new innovation can be easily mastered and difficult new systems might face a significant amount of resistance from them. As regards trailability, the nurses need to be presented with the chance to explore the new technology and get in tune with its functions. Also under trailability, a crucial feature of an innovation is the possibility of consumers to explore it or self-use it for a short time. This short time, known as an innovation’s trial period assists potential nurses in satisfying their curiosity about the way an innovation would work in a specific situation (Perkins, 2011).
The senior nurses have to be fully involved in development and establishment of novel healthcare technology in order to make sure that it is practical and suitable for the other workers. Nonetheless, nurses are well known for obstructing change, especially technological innovations. Technological implementations in the healthcare industry do not always turn out successful and we believe this is due to the fact that the nurses and other workers are not properly carried along during the change process. The senior nurses have to be involved in deliberations over suitable resources and technology. All over the world, irrespective of the setting, the main objective of a nurse is to provide quality and safe healthcare to individuals and families. Despite this, the resources available to healthcare providers, in most cases, are unable to provide the nurses with acceptable standards for providing quality healthcare. There is no consensus among the healthcare executives over how nursing resources should be distributed. Also, even though research has proved that healthcare delivered by nurses have direct effects on the probability of morbidity and mortality, the nurse executives still justify their demands for resources. As regard the health and technology needs of the people, the nurses are still the major care coordinators and providers (USF Health, n.d).
Before HER is established, the healthcare providers have to deliberate over some future obstacles. Finding solutions to these obstacles right from the start of HER implementation will aid the organization in setting achievable and practicable goals (USF Health, n.d).
· Usability
Certain EHR systems are associated with usability issues. Complex navigation, multiple interfaces and excessive options often cause nurses and physicians to be left frustrated and unable to work on patient data. Several hospitals and practices might not have spare time for mastering how to work with the novel system. Having poor understanding of the ways of using an EHR program could cause adverse effects on productivity, therefore it is crucial to solve usability problems (USF Health, n.d).


· Technical Ability
Computer literacy among healthcare personnel could differ based on the age or the location of a medical centre. An example is the fact that rural healthcare providers are not as efficient in the establishment of EHR when compared to their urban counterparts. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services explains that Connectivity could be complex within the rural setting. The senior healthcare personnel might also be more comfortable with paper records than new technology. Causing the technology-reluctant clinicians to adopt and apply these innovations could require a bit of work, most especially when they are satisfied with the performance of their current methods. (USF Health, n.d).
The associated uncertainty of future profits could worsen this concern. The related costs, like the higher time commitments by physicians and lower patient visits while EHR is being implemented can influence the end result for providers. Healthcare corporations might need to manage providers and patients who say no to EHRs or those who are quickly put off by the problems of cost, usability and technical efficiency. If no EHR advocates/promoters exist within a firm, then it becomes quite difficult to achieve success (USF Health, n.d).
Irrespective of the possible benefits of electronic health information, the establishment of this technology is obstructed by limitations and barriers, with the commonest of these being; standardization limits, organizational limitations, cost limitations, attitudinal and behavioural limitation of individuals and technical restrictions. Several researches show that the most important limitation to EHR implementation is resistance to change. The major obstacle against the acceptance and use of the EHR procedure, discovered from a number of studies, is the erroneous alignment of cost and financial reimbursement. The other identified obstacles include confidentiality and privacy concerns, system interoperability, transience of sellers, dearth of properly trained clinical informatics personal to handle the system, technical problems, population of sellers on the market and the dearth of health records data standards (USF Health, n.d).
Applying Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation in concurrence with the function of nurses as agents of change, the advantages of a prospective innovation must be analysed based on whether it is needed by the nurses as they, the potential users of the electronic health information systems, are the ones who will determine and come to terms with the diverse advantages provided by this new technology and these advantages have to be more than its (EHR) risks. It is equally crucial for these nurses to also understand that this new technology has more benefits than the manual health information systems. Nurses are responsible for the facilitation of the acceptance of novel technological inventions which could enhance healthcare delivery quality for the patients. The population who die each year from avoidable medical errors have gotten higher over recent years.
Recent evidence has proved that the application of health-related information technology (IT) can increase the safety of patients and enhance the sustainability and quality of health care. Healthcare organizations and providers have to gravitate towards a patient-focused healthcare by increased technology use following a better acceptable process of reaching this objective. The incorporation of the internet strength with the electronic health records (EHR) gives the nurses novel and efficient tools for improving patient care. With 24/7 access to the data archive of their organization or clinic as well as the global community of online medical resources, the nurses enjoy around-the-clock clinical support whenever making decisions notwithstanding their location be it beside the hospital bed, in the hospital’s examination room or at the patient’s residence. In order to fully grasp the function of the nurses as agents of change and in actively facilitating the spread and use of novel technologies, then it is crucial to understand firstly, the five characteristics of innovation and adoption rate (Hilz, 2000).


References
Perkins, R. A. (2011). Using Rogers’ Theory of Perceived Attributes as a Framework for Understanding the Challenges of Adoption of Open Educational Resources. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 1(18), 59-66.
Rogers, E. M. (2010). Diffusion of innovations. Simon and Schuster.
Hirji, N., Cockerill, R., Jadad, A. A., & Marafioti, D. (2010). Planning for Success: An Evidence-Informed Approach to Preparing Nurses for an Electronic Patient Record. A Review of the Literature. Methods, 5(4).
Hilz, L. M. (2000). The informatics nurse specialist as change agent. Application of innovation-diffusion theory. Computers in Nursing, 18(6), 272-8.
USF Health. (n.d.). Overcoming Hurdles Faced During EHR Implementation Retrieved October 05, 2017, from https://www.usfhealthonline.com/resources/healthcare/overcoming-hurdles-faced-during-ehr-implementation/