The future of nursing

¶ … Future of Nursing

Technologies are advancing and evolving all of the time. A century ago, people were just beginning to install electric lights in their homes and learning how to use telephones. Having the ability to communicate with anyone around the globe in a matter of seconds or having an entire computer in your pocket which allows you to find and download information on any topic would have seemed like science fiction to a person living even fifty years ago. These technologies have impacted every echelon of life, every country, and every field. The medical field in particular has changed because of new technologies and innovations. Whereas in the past even a slight infection might have been fatal, in the modern era, even if someone is on the brink of death, they can be brought back to life. Messages are relayed from one medical department to another and doctors and nurses can communicate about a case without even being in the same country but each will have access to the same data. As time moves forward, these technologies will only further improve medical treatment. Due to this irrefutable fact, it is absolutely necessary that nurses embrace new technologies and techniques and learn how to incorporate them and understand them so that they can provide their patients with the best level of treatment that is possible. Such technological advancements as the ones mentioned have the ability to allow nurse's to determine the cause of patient suffering, to continue care of patients both within the hospital setting and after they are released, and also improves the level of care that nurses can provide to their patients.

Various researches have been done to show how technological advancements have improved the ability of nurses and medical staff to determine the potential cause of patient illness or injury. In the hospital setting, the faster that a diagnosis can be made, the more likelihood that the patient can be treated effectively and their issue cured. At every stage of a patient's care, the nurse must be able to make decisions appropriately and quickly (O'Reilly). The problem is that each level of assessment is also a place where a mistake could impact the quality of care and eventual prognosis of the patient. Nurses are responsible for initial assessment, initial diagnosis, planning of a course of action, implementing that plan, and evaluating the needs and demands of their patients. A wrong decision at any given moment can permanently affect the patients. Therefore, nurses must be able to perform clinical decision making very quickly and correctly. Technologies have been developed which cuts out a lot of the subjectivity by which nurses have to judge their patients. As soon as they are seen, patients can have their blood pressure checked, their pulse measured, their temperature recorded, and many other mechanical indicators of abnormal vital signs. Getting this basic information quickly allows the nurse to see whether or not the patient has a clear issue or if further investigation is required. By eliminating or determining certain things, a course of inquiry can be made to find out the ultimate cause of illness or injury.

Nurses can monitor their patients without even being in the room with them. Machines and video equipment allow nurses to keep an eye on their charges while still performing the other tasks of their occupation. A problem arises whenever an at-risk patient is released from the hospital. There is always some concern that the patient will relapse and that they might not make it to medical services in time. To combat this, medical technologists have created equipment which can monitor patients even if they are at home. The machines will relate information back to the hospital or nurse who can then suggest methods to help the patient or tell them to come back to the hospital. They take the guess work out of wondering whether or not a patient needs to be seen by the doctor and to what degree they are in danger. For example, in one study of patients who were suffering from heart failure, researchers investigated a mechanical system called telemonitoring wherein the symptoms of the patient were closely and constantly monitored (Schwartz 26). When the patients were having issues, the nurses would be made instantly aware and could determine if the patient needed to be readmitted to the hospital or if the patient and his or her caregiver could successfully deal with the issue from home. This test ultimately showed that telemonitoring could be used in this kind of condition provided the patient was not alone in the home. Similar technologies have been introduced wherein the patient is monitored remotely. Some applications for smart phones can let patients communicate directly which medical personnel so that they can have their symptoms analyzed remotely without having to go to the doctor's office, although health officials state that such applications should only be consulted in non-emergency situations or if the patient does not believe that they are seriously ill (Page). This allows the patient to be treated in the comfort of his or her home, but also alleviates some of the heavy burden placed upon busy hospital emergency rooms and their staff members. According to the Brookings Institute of Washington, D.C., there are currently more than 40,000 such medical applications available for smart phone users, although many of these are not associated with actual hospitals and should not be consulted in place of professional nurses and doctors. Of course, if a serious problem were suspected, the patient would be ordered to come to the hospital.