Electronic Health Reporter

From ordering pizza to managing your finances, new technology is changing the way we live our everyday life. And now, more than ever before, these innovations are finding ways to impact the healthcare industry in incredible ways!

Technology has become an integral part of the healthcare industry as it is filled in every corner of every hospital and has a significant impact on both healthcare workers & patients alike. These tech facilities have greatly assisted healthcare workers, transforming their works into more efficient processes with greater accuracy than ever before!

Nurses are the backbone of every healthcare team. Being a nurse is highly demanding & this hasn’t been highlighted better than during the COVID-19 pandemic. As nursing profession requires the core of what makes us human- it can never be replaced by technology.

Technology and the nursing profession are not replacements for one another; instead, they complement each other. In fact, the WHO’s State of the World’s Nursing Report 2020 emphasized the significance of technology in both nursing education and practice.

Let’s have a glance at the most promising ones.

Electronic Health Records (EHR)

EHRs are replacing traditional paper filing processes. Electronic health records are an excellent way for nursing experts to document care provided and retrieve information that can help prioritize patient needs. Moreover, data entered into computer systems can be accessed by the care team, which includes doctors & even patients when necessary.

While privacy and security continue to be a concern for Electronic Health Records, HIPAA laws ensure that the organizations preserve the confidentiality of electronic records. New technology like blockchain and cryptography are easing these concerns with its anonymity features, allowing easier access to various aspects of your medical history without compromising personal information or data breaches.

The electronic health records inform the registered nurses about the subsequent steps they need to take for a patient, supervising minor condition changes & providing them information instantly as reminders or alerts. Real-time health condition updates impact the accuracy and speed of medical care.

Wearable Devices:

Wearable devices transform the healthcare industry with apps that can help track everything from heart rates, respiration, exercise, and sleep. These technologies empower people to take control of their well-being by assisting them in collecting data.

From examining specific patients & health tracking, wearable devices are frequently called the future of healthcare. With access to a massive amount of data, wearable devices help the entire healthcare process, from recovery to diagnosis.

The devices aid nurses in ensuring patients are being monitored correctly and provide more accurate records with less human error as the communication data comes directly from the device itself. It permits quicker record keeping & helps patients & nurses uphold consistent monitoring of health.

GPS tracking

GPS tracking has been creatively used in hospitals. It is much easier to tag and track medical equipment than before with the new technology, which helps increase the efficiency of operations.

Nurses can now find out the nearest blood pressure machine or a piece of equipment with the radio frequency identification tags. One might think that a hospital’s bed management and patient care is simple but being able to centralize monitoring for equipment has made it easier than ever before.

Drug Delivery

What does the future of medical devices look like? The answer may be an implantable drug delivery systems. With the advancement of technology, numerous hospitals have implemented drug delivery systems in an implantable device form. These devices are a great way to provide medication to patients at certain times.

An RN can schedule the dosing while ensuring that their patients get prescription medications like Flexeril and Soma when they need, in an appropriate dose and in a proper manner. This ensures that every aspect of a patient’s care is monitored, reducing the chance for errors and even lawsuits.

Nursing Education

With innovations launching every day impacting the delivery of the healthcare industry, new clinical healthcare technology is exciting & transformative. This might put challenges to nurses who are undertaking to learn new technology and implement it into their work life. It’s not an easy task, but it can help them progress in a career quickly!

Education will be your ticket to success in this new environment. Whether you’re already an RN & looking forward to advancing your career & require educational support, you can get the training with flexible coursework that can fit in your busy schedule.

Not only does furthering one’s own education can increase comfort levels in managing the technological needs of the healthcare industry, while you can also prepare oneself beforehand via awareness about upcoming advancements.

As the healthcare sector continues to change with the advancements of innovative technology, nurses can change right along with it & elevate patient care in the process.

Lifting Patients with Ease

As per the Veteran’s Administration, more than 2400 nurses are injured every year while lifting their patients. The majority of the injuries are debilitating, causing them to lose work & money. With the number of falls and patient injuries inside hospitals, it is imperative to ensure their safety.

However, things began to change in 2008 when VA took notice of all the nursing injuries. The VA spent over $200 million on a program to create devices and training for nurses to handle their patients more safely. Now, many hospitals are utilizing such technologies in their patient’s rooms, which has resulted in 40% fewer nursing injuries. Technology like smart beds provides nurses a constant in-room monitor, which gives those frequent updates & communication on a patient’s activities.

Technology is ever-changing and constantly evolving into new ways that will make the life of a nurse easier. A nurse must stay up to date on these methods and work in a center where they are willing and able to invest in advanced technologies. Keeping up with the latest trends in healthcare and nursing can help maintain their creative edge, which is essential for career advancement.

Automated IV Pumps

There are two most commonly used methods for administering fluids to patients, manual infusion or electric IV pumps. Performing an infusion of fluids manually (by hand) requires a lot of time and effort. The administrator has to accurately judge the amount they are

infusing and periodically monitor the setup to ensure it performs safely and perfectly. For this and several other reasons, people nowadays choose to use electric/smart pumps to get the job done.

Getting the right amounts of IV fluids into patients is not something that should be a matter of guesswork. Moreover, anything that can be done to some load off the nurses, who are generally severely overworked, is an incredible investment. Automated IV Pumps are designed to help healthcare workers ensure the right amount of IV fluids are administered to the patients with higher accuracy and without consistent monitoring.

Telehealth and Apps

Telehealth apps are the use of digital information and communication technologies, such as computers and mobiles, to manage your health by accessing health care services. These may be services you use from the comfort of your home or that your healthcare provider uses to support and improve their health care services. Telehealth apps are extremely convenient and easy to use as they can be accessed from anywhere, anytime, with the help of simple internet access and a smart device.